‘Azzun, Habla, Nabi Elias, Wed 9.10.13, Morning
Nabi Elias –At our meeting with the women a week ago R. invited us to come and help her family at the Olive Harvest. As she showed us her Olive Orchard is situated exactly bordering on the Separation Fence, at the "Israeli" side.
We arrived in the morning at the Baladiya (the Council building) at 10:00 hrs (09:00 according to the Palestinian time) . As nobody was waiting for us, we entered, and met Hussan, the advisor on the development of the villages. He insisted that we wait for R. in his office with a cup of coffee. After he made a few phone calls to investigate what had happened to our hosts, and after we waited for quite a while (Hussan insisted we meet her before we left) R. arrived and apologized profusely. She explained that her husband had been injured in his eye at work, and she herself cannot go out to the olive collecting as her three year old son had been vaccinated, has fever and cannot be left alone at home. Moreover she cannot take him with her to the olive harvest as he has no authorization to enter the Seam Zone and the olive orchard, and the guards at the Eliyahu crossing don't allow him to pass…R. invited us to come to the olive picking on the following day. We agreed to meet for the activities at the women's club after the holidays.
Azzun 11:30 – We passed in order to see the gate – it was open and cars passed through it in both directions.
Habla 11:45 – It was not opening time, and as was to be expected the gate was shut. One person was sitting in the shade on the ground, waiting for the gate to be opened.
In order to console ourselves for the olive harvest that never was, we passed at Omer's plant nursery and enjoyed buying vegetables and plants.
'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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Habla
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Habla CP (1393)
The Habla checkpoint (1393) was established on the lands of the residents of Qalqilya, on the short road that
connected it for centuries to the nearby town of Habla. The separation barrier intersects this road twice and cut off the residents of Qalqilya from their lands in the seam zone.(between the fence and the green line).
There is a passage under Road 55 that connects Qalqilya to the sabotage This agricultural barrier is used by the farmers and nursery owners established along Road 55 from the Green Line and on both sides of the kurkar road leading to the checkpoint.
This agricultural checkpoint serves the residents of Arab a-Ramadin al-Janoubi (detached from the West Bank), who pass through it to the West Bank and back to their homes. The opening hours (3 times a day) of this agricultural checkpoint are longer than usual, about an hour (recently shortened to 45 minutes), and are coordinated with the transportation hours of a-Ramadin children studying in the occupied in the West Bank.
Nina SebaAug-18-2025Habla: The gate is in the process of closing
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