‘Azzun, Jayyus, Jubara (Kafriat), Kufr Jammal, Kufr Sur
We drove to visit our friend Z. in ‘Azzun and bring him used clothes for his shop. We planned to arrive at the Sal’it gate at 14:00, which is the time indicated on the form sent by the army.
From ‘Azzun we drove toward Jayyous and continued on Highway 554 toward Tulkarm. On the way we stopped at the entrance to Kafr Jammal to ask workers in a garage directions to the gate. While they explained they gave us coffee and told us there were many problems at the gate. We learned that it’s not only an agricultural gate but also used by laborers from the area employed in the industrial zone next to Sal’it. They also told us that in the past they’d had no problems with the residents of Sal’it, and before the fence was erected they had good neighborly relations. We continued on a winding road. We turn left at a sign pointing to Zibad village. We continued on a road leading toward Tulkarm. We saw a vehicle speeding toward us on the road flying two Machsom Watch flags. We realized it was Karin and Ronny Perlman’s shift at the Falamya gate. For a moment I had the feeling our shifts patrolled the area as frequently as the army’s jeeps. Would it were true!!! It’s too bad the Falamya gate opens only at 14:00 and the nearby Sal’it gate at 16:00. We should try to combine the shifts at those gates.
We reached a junction with a plaza. To get to Kafr Sur we had to go left at the plaza and drive uphill. At the top of the hill we reached a grocery store. A handicapped man sat in a wheelchair; his name is Rami. He told us we’d missed the turn toward the gate, and we understood it opened daily at 16:00 – “but if they see you they’ll open only at 18:00,” he said, laughing. He said the soldier don’t show up on time.
At 15:00 we returned the way we came, accompanied by one of the guys we met at the grocery.
To reach the gate itself you have to drive down a steep path into the wadi and continue on an unpaved road. It had been raining all morning and we saw from the top of the path that the entire route was filled with mud and decided not to descend this time. We saw many cars at the gate.
I think we should come to this gate at least once at 6 AM to see how the entry of laborers and farmers is organized, and to come also at 4 in the afternoon.
From there we drove toward the Jubara checkpoint; we passed Arras, near the location of the Jubara children’s gate ten years earlier. We don’t miss those days but are disappointed that nothing has changed for the better since then. Things have only become worse.
'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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Jayyus North (935)
See all reports for this placeJubara (Kafriat)
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The Jabra checkpoint was on Road 557, south of Tulkarm, on the side of the Figs Pass, which is located within the Palestinian Authority (a few kilometers east of the Green Line), and serves as an entry barrier from the territories to Israel. The checkpoint to the village of Jubara, which until 2013 was in the seam area, blocked and surrounded by a fence, was intended for the passage of the family members of the house next to the checkpoint, and also for the MachsomWatch volunteers (with special permission only), on their way to checkpoint 753. on the other side of the village. The soldiers supervising the "fig crossing" also supervised the crossing at this checkpoint, in our shifts we often waited a long time until the key was found and the gate opened. The checkpoint was abolished and became part of the separation fence that was moved west following the High Court.
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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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