Azzun - the work permit was confiscated from the father when his son was arrested with no reason and then released
The Knesset has been dissolved, but outside all proceeds as usual – whatever “usual” means during the pandemic.
We reached ‘Azzun around noon. The streets are fairly deserted. No children in the street even though schools are closed. Some stores are shut, the few people we saw weren’t wearing masks, not even pulled down to their chin. Our old friend welcomed us happily. He works only occasionally when he’s notified the Einav settlement is accessible – he’s employed there as a foreman by his brother. His permit was confiscated when his son was arrested and detained for two weeks, with no reason, and then released. Since then his son, an automotive electrician who’d worked in Qalqilya and Tulkarm, and whose permit was also confiscated, has been traumatized. He’s frightened, doesn’t want to leave ‘Azzun even for nearby Qalqilya. It’s hard. We brought many items, but the shop isn’t very busy. People fear to buy goods second-hand because of corona. He doesn’t understand why people fear used items. The children are home, schools closed. We bought olive oil.
We drove to Habla. At 12:50 soldiers already stood between the fences and a military police vehicle arrived. A large truck waited on the Habla side, and people waited on both sides. We understood it would be a while until the gate opened, so we went to the plant nursery. The two sons greeted us. One is studying physics at the university, in his second year. “You need a good brain for that (motioning with his hands)…” which I have!” he says. His brother is in the last year of high school. Neither is now in school, except to conduct experiments. They work during the day and study in the evening.
Few go through the checkpoint. The young men complain that there are sometimes soldiers who behave rudely.
We left with many purchases.
'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 CP (1393)
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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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