'Azzun, Falamiya North Checkpoint (914), Falamiya South Checkpoint (935), Kufr Jammal
It’s the last day of the holiday. It’s quiet, not much traffic.
11:30 Azzun – An army vehicle is parking on the left side at the entrance. We visit a shop to deliver some parcels.
We visit the grocery store in Kfar Jamal. The firstborn son of Z has married. Many guests came to the big wedding feast and the happy parents have furnished a large flat for the young couple. H., who speaks fluent Hebrew, joins us. He is the father of six and he used to work at restaurants in Israel. Now, when his children have grown, he wants to be close to them and take part in their education, so he has decided to work in construction until 15:00 in order to spend time together with them.
Falamiya 914
The checkpoint opens fifteen minutes late due to an “incident at Tzofim”. The military police officer who speaks Arabic behaves politely towards the Palestinians and offers us something to drink. If only everybody were like him…
Two people are waiting in the roofed area: a 60 year old teacher from Kfar Jamal, a pensioner who grows za’atar on his land, and a lawyer who owns an orchard, which he loves very much, since he planted it together with his father.
Exiting: 4 pedestrians, 5 bicycle riders and 4 tractors, one loaded with za’atar and another with equipment for the use of pesticides.
Entering: 1 tractor, 1 private car and 1 wagon loaded with za’atar sacks.
The gate closes after everybody has crossed.
Falamiya South (West Jayyous) 935
The gate opens at 13:30
Entering: A private car and a tractor.
Exiting: 5 tractors and 3 pedestrians.
Everybody has crossed within ten minutes and we leave.
14:10 There are no soldiers at the exit from Azzun.
At the restaurant in Nabi Iliyas we wonder if business has suffered since the opening of the bypass. The owner says he has no complaints. The good people keep coming and I don’t miss the troublemakers.
Eliyahu checkpoint – There is only one car in the checking area
Once more, at the plant nursery in Hable, we hear about the search for infiltrators. A. is sure that the security forces and the Palestinians who sneak in without permits cooperate. Without fear he tells the soldiers: ask your own people. You have no reason to look for infiltrators in the area of the plant nursery, since you won’t find anybody here.
'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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Falamiya North (914)
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Falamiya North (914) Opens 3 times a day for about 40 minutes each time. This checkpoint has extremely important for all farmers in the area since the previous, Falamya checkpoint opening routine of continuously open for 12 hours has been discontinued. This took place after the separation fence was moved westward following the High Court of Justice.
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Falamiya South (935)
See all reports for this placeKufr 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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