Azzun - no army in the village, a feeling of freedom
Report in Corona days
This morning I again talked with our friends Z. from Azzun and his wife S. They are enclosed in their houses out of fear of the Corona, but they have not heard that somebody in their village has got the disease. On the other hand there is no army in the village, and after a long difficult time during which the army literally drove the villagers crazy, it is quiet now and peaceful, there are no soldiers at the entrance to the village, the children do not throw stones, there are no arrests and there is a feeling of freedom.
But on the other hand the Palestinian police forbids people to go out to the streets, and whoever does walk on the street, the Palestinian police catches and punishes him. They miss our visits with them and wait that all this will pass, just as we do.
As they make a living from second hand objects that are supplied to them mainly by the Machsom Watch women, the shop is literally empty. In the meantime they have spent all their savings which they had accumulated during the summer (they wished to buy a piece of land of their own). As they don’t have a bank account I am looking for a way to transfer money to them, to avoid them remaining without means to buy even bread.
'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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