‘Azzun, Eliyahu Crossing, Kufr Jammal
דוח להשתלה
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11:20 Eliyahu CP
3 cars in the checking area. No queue in either direction.
11:30 Azzun
We visit our friend, who reports that there are no problems these days, the army leaves them alone, and the locals don't throw stones.
Jamal village
We meet a young man who tells us that he has been working in Israel 5 years. In May 2015 he did not renew his permit, to save the fee of 2500 NIS. He entered without a permit, was caught and tried, serves 45 days in prison, with another 3 years on probation.
Ahmad Tubi, 17 years old, tried to pass the separation fence on his way to work, and was killed by 5 bullets. A brutal murder. His father had had a permit to work in Israel for 25 years, which was taken away last year without explanation, as ususal. His children worked alongside him in Taybeh (which they reached through Falmiya CP), but on Monday, Ahmad decided to pass through the water pipes on the wall. Even the permit-less have to make a living.
Z. had to go through hell until his son received a one year work permit to work in the family hyssop plot. He says: We are men of peace, causing no trouble. He only wants a family, a home, a car, a peaceful life. None of the family are involved in politics. But at the DCO they were charged with fabrications. Who invents them? Why?
Falmiya CP, 914
Z. drives us in his 4-by-4. The road is rough and bumpy, in preparation for its renovation, to be paid for by overseas donations. On our way he points out the water pipe where Tubi was murdered in cold blood.
12:45 The gates open on time. A small number of tractors and cars pass.
We cannot access Falmiya South, 935, so we return to Jamal. Over a cup of sweet tea we hear that the landowners are having no problems now, all have permits for the next 2 years, and their relative for a year. They grow hyssop, the land is good, no water shortages. Z. could earn a lot working in construction in Israel, but would have nothing to do with the humiliation of the CPs, for all the money in the world.
'Azzun
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Azoun (updated February 2019)
A Palestinian town situated in Area B (under civil Palestinian control and Israeli security control),
on road 5 between Nablus and Qalqiliya, east of Nabi Elias village. The inhabitants are allowed to construct and improve infrastructures. The Separation Fence has confiscated lands belonging to the town's people. In 2018 olive tree groves owned by one of its inhabitants were confiscated for the sake of paving a road to bypass Nabi Elias. Azoun population numbers 13,000, its economic state dire. Its infrastructures are poor, neglect and poverty rampant. In the meantime, the town council has completed paving an internal road for the inhabitants' welfare.
Because of its proximity to the Jewish settler-colony of Karnei Shomron and its outposts, the town suffers the intense presence of the Israeli army, especially at nighttime: soldiers enter homes, arrest suspects, trash the house and sometimes ruin it, as they do in numerous places in the West Bank. At times a checkpoint closes the entrance to the town, so no one can come in or get out.
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Eliyahu CP (109) / Crossing
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Eliyahu CP (109) / Crossing This checkpoint, also known as the Fruit Crossing, is one of the main checkpoints between Israel and the West Bank. It is located on Route 55 between Alfei Menashe and the turn to Qalqilya and Zufin, more than 4 km east of the Green Line, in the separation fence, which separates Qalqilya from its lands to the south, thus leaving Alfei Menashe West of the fence - the Seam Zone. This checkpoint, a few kilometers across the Green Line, is intended for "Israeli settlement in the West Bank and the population of the Seam Zone." It is managed by a civil company. Palestinians with a special permit for their lands in the seam area are also allowed to pass through it, on foot, and sometimes by car.
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Kufr Jammal
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Kufr Jammal This village, rising about 200 meters over sea level, is located about 14 kilometers south of Tul Karm town and about 17 kilometers from the Mediterranean Sea. The families living there since the mid-18th century number about 3,000 persons at present. The village has lost thousands of dunams of its northern and western lands due to the construction of the Separation Barrier, leaving the lands themselves behind the barrier. After the Israeli Supreme Court ruling in 2011, the barrier was moved to the west and many farmlands were returned to their owners. It is a quiet village, its relations with the nearby settler-colony of Sal’it are favorable, and many of the villagers work in the colony’s industrial plants. Farmers cross the agricultural checkpoint close to this settler-colony in order to tend their fields unhampered. However, there are numerous acts of harassment and disorder taking place when the village farmers cross the other agricultural checkpoints: gates do not open at hours suitable to the farmers’ needs, and for a short period of time only; the Civil Administration usually prevents all kinds of crops except olives; tractors and other farm equipment are forbidden entry; only a single permit is issued per family, and occasionally such permits are confiscated and their re-issue is delayed – the common excuse is usually “security reasons”. How do the villagers make their living? Holders of work permits inside Israel travel at 3 a.m. to Eyal Checkpoint near Qalqiliya town in order to make it on time to their workplace at Sal’it (close to their village) and elsewhere. Owners of vegetable patches who hold permits are allowed to reach their fields beyond the Separation Barrier through the distant Falamiya Checkpoint. Importantly, fields returned to the village show amazing improvement intending, irrigation and farming variety – and instead of the neglected olive tree groves that were accessible only to holders of transit permits through agricultural checkpoints usually closed, farming has now flourished. (updated Jan 2021)
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