Bethlehem area - a house condemned to be immediately destroyed
Report of shift to Bethlehem checkpoint and to a house which condemned to be immediately destroyed in East Gush Etzion
Checkpoint 300 – Bethlehem
The traffic jam we saw on our way was on the road leading from the checkpoint to Jerusalem. On the way out of the checkpoint there was a great crowd of workers who were waiting for buses to Jerusalem, and people were already sitting on the fences waiting for job offers that would come along. We were again told that there is not enough work. A house painter from Bethlehem told us that this is the 14th day which he has come into Israel and not found work. The permit is wasted and the money is lost.
At the checkpoint itself there was a much smaller security force than we saw in previous shifts (they are now stationed in every corner of Jerusalem and Gush Etzion). It was actually for the better, because we always had the feeling that with an excess of soldiers walking around on the Israeli side, more problems arise for the Palestinians. Many women crossed today, but the humanitarian crossing is not active. The women today did not complain, but there is a problem with the humanitarian checkpoints at all checkpoints – in general, they are not activated – not for the elderly, not for the sick, and not for women.
A trip to the Dadua family house which is in immediate danger of demolition.
Highway 60 – the other tunnel closest to Jerusalem is already active. The traffic jam to Jerusalem starts after that.
We received a call from Manfouz Dadua, who got our phone number from the Musa family from Al Khader. We corresponded through the wonderful Google Translate. Two years ago, we visited Musa’s family several times, and helped them spread that they were under threat for the fourth time of the demolition of a house they built on their land. The house was not destroyed, but of course not precisely because of us. An association from England of well-known theater people helped the protest the demolition and sent volunteers at the right moment to finish building the house.
The Dadua family is being handled by the lawyers of the St. Yves organization. Her financial situation is much worse than the family in Al Khader. The house is next to the road leading to the northern entrance to Efrat, and is the poorest in the row of houses with several floors. There are two rooms and a small kitchenette. In one room live the 7 children – from the age of 5 to the age of 16, and in the other room a father with cancer who spends most of the time in treatment (he was in treatment when we visited) and his brave wife asked us to come.
It’s just heartbreaking to see all the mattresses covering the floor in the living room, which is used for sleeping by all the children, the poverty that prevails in the house, the cute smiles of everyone and the terrible fear that they will be left without a place to live. Outside there are several walls of the extension, which would allow them to live more comfortably. But the permit request was rejected outright according to a new order from 2021 “Military Construction Approval Order” according to which the military commander of the region has to approve the request as an initial condition of submission to the Civil Administration. The military commander rejected the order in June 2022 (probably because of intentions to clear the access area to |Efrat as much as possible) and thus the permit did not even reach the administration.
We sat in the yard with everyone and heard that the children have not been studying for 20 days because of the school strike in El Khader. The teachers have not received their salary from the Palestinian Authority. We heard that the 8-year-old doesn’t go to school as he is needed to help to wash cars in the outside yard and to help with making a living.
The five-year-old needs a doctor’s examination because of a deformity in his right arm, but there is no money for a doctor. We didn’t ask if there was a lack of food, but it’s clear that there is a lack of everything . We also asked about the family – if they can help. Nafuz is from Dura El Khalil and her parents died. Muhammad is from Al Khader. It is not clear if anyone from from the community and the Palestinian welfare institutions support them.
We decided to help as much as we could, especially in spreading the story of this the difficult situation. Natanya is trying to get a doctor for the littlest one though the Doctors Without Borders, I spoke with the lawyer and he explained that it is better not to continue construction, because a violation of the demolition order can cause in these difficult days a demolition which would include the old house as well. After a year has passed, it will be possible to file an appeal again. He promised to explain to us and follow up on what is happening. They are trying to get the support of the Holy Land Trust organization, which is linked to the English donors. We will visit again before Ramadan with food and other necessary things we will buy.
We didn’t promise that we could do anything of course, but we saw the hope in their eyes that someone would do something for them. It is obligatory to try.
Back through the busy junction – Mazmuriya checkpoint-the South American road – Jebel Mukaber. We drove back to Jerusalem through a busy intersection. This is the only narrow road, the continuation of the road from Wadi Nar, which leads Palestinians from the north of the West Bank to the connection after Gush Etzion to road 60 leading to Hebron. Work is underway to establish a new industrial zone called “Mizrakh (East) Gush Etzion”. In every corner, soldiers are on guard. One faces the road with a rifle drawn, the other with a rifle drawn to the other side.
A queue at the Mazmuriya checkpoint – which is only for Israeli cars.
We entered Jebel Mukaber via the American road at the south (an apartheid road which is for Israelis only). Except for the destroyed bus station that has disappeared, there are no traces of the burning bins and stones that blocked the roads during the strike about three weeks ago. But the protest of the Palestinian neighbourhoods has provoked the reaction of the world, and the demolition of the houses has stopped for the time being. Until after Ramadan…
Al-Khader
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Al-Khadr served as transit from Bethlehem to Route 60. A dirt mound prevent vehicular traffic from and to Bethlehem from the west. A small market developed there. Taxi ranks were on both sides of the obstruction. It was replaced by a similar obstruction at Al Nashash which has recently been removed and thus the way from Bethlehem to Hebron through Route 60 is now free.
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Bethlehem (300)
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Located adjacent to the Separation Wall ("Jerusalem Wrap") at the north entrance to Bethlehem, this checkpoint cuts off Bethlehem and the entire West Bank from East Jerusalem, with all the serious implications for health services, trade, education, work and the fabric of life. The checkpoint is manned by the Border police and private security companies. It is an extensive infrastructure barrier and is designated as a border terminal, open 24 hours a day for foreign tourists. Israeli passport holders are not allowed to pass to Bethlehem, and Palestinian residents are not allowed to enter Jerusalem, except those with entry permits to Israel and East Jerusalem residents. Israeli buses are allowed to travel to Bethlehem only through this checkpoint.The checkpoint, which demonstrated harsh conditions of crowding and extreme passage delays for years, started employing advanced electronic identification posts and has upgraded its gates' system as of the middle of 2019 - and conditions improved.Adjacent to the checkpoint, in an enclosure between high walls and another passage, is the historic Rachel's Tomb, which is now embedded within a concrete fortified building. It contains prayer and study complexes for Jews only, as well as a residential complex. updated November 2019 .
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Container (Wadi Nar)
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Wadi Nar Checkpoint ("Container", "The Kiosk") - a barrier for vehicles in Area B that is regularly manned - east of Abu Dis between Sawahra A Sharqiya and Bethlehem and its daughters. Controls Palestinian movement between the north and south West-Bank. Includes driving routes, access roads, spikes, traffic lights and signs. There is no pedestrian crossing. Open 24 hours a day with random checks enhanced on security alerts. The checkpoint is in Palestinian territory, allowing for separation between the north and the south Palestinian areas when necessary.
In 2015, the leading road from Azaria to Bethlehem was renovated, as well as the steep and narrow ascent to the Wadi Nar checkpoint, which was dangerously travelled in both directions! The temporary checkpoint was renovated and expanded, and pedestrian traffic was banned. From 2016, traffic travelling from the south bank to Azaria was directed to a one-way road near the Southern Keydar Jewish settlement.
Machsomwatch shifts visit this far-fetched checkpoint only occasionally.
(updated to July 2019)
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Jabel Mukaber (Jerusalem)
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Jabal Mukaber is located on the eastern and northern slopes of Mount Atz (or "Jabal Mukaber" in its Arabic name). It was founded by the Bedouin tribe of Arab a-Sawahra. Today, the village is considered one of East Jerusalem neighborhoods. It numbers about 30,000 residents living on 1,010 dunams. The village has five main clans, numbering several hundred families. During the British Mandate, the tribe moved to live in a huge complex of permanent housing that was named as-Sawahra, with the part east of the Kidron Valley called as-Sawahra a-Sharqiya (Eastern Sawahra) and the western part – Sawahra al-Gharbiyya. The separation fence currently separates Jabal Mukaber from Sawahra a-Sharqiya.
The houses of Jabal Mukaber wrap around the ridge from the north and east, along one of the tributaries of the Kidron River. In the eastern part, the village houses border the Jewish East Talpiot neighborhood. most of the residents of the village are considered residents of Jerusalem, have blue identity cards and enjoy full civil rights in Israel, except for the right to vote for the Knesset and receive an Israeli passport.
The residents of Jabel Mukaber suffer from lack of Outline Plan for the village, overcrowding and a lack of residential and public spaces. Thus, there is a phenomenon of illegal construction in the neighborhood. Demolitions of houses without building permits have been carried out over the years, but since the 7th October War, their rate has increased.
In 2010, a wall was built separating it from its sub-neighborhood A-Sheikh Sa'ed. The wall left many residents with Palestinian IDs without Jerusalem residency and they lost their freedom of movement in Jerusalem.
In the northern part of the neighborhood, construction began in 2005 of a luxury Jewish neighborhood called Nof Zion. The neighborhood was planned to have about 400 housing units, a commercial center and a hotel. However, in April 2025, it was announced that it would be expanded. The apartments were marketed mainly to the religious community in the United States. Alongside the Nof Zion neighborhood, a plan is being promoted to establish the Nof Zahav neighborhood on state land in the Jabal Mukaber neighborhood. This plan also includes residential areas and hotels for tourists, and a place has been allocated for a synagogue, but not for the construction of a mosque.
During and after the Second Intifada, several residents of the neighborhood were involved in terrorist attacks: On March 6, 2008, the attack on Merkaz HaRav Yeshiva in the Kiryat Moshe neighborhood of Jerusalem, in which eight of the yeshiva's students were murdered; On November 18, 2014, an attack on the "Kehilat Bnei Torah" synagogue during morning prayers in the Har Nof neighborhood of Jerusalem; A resident of Jabal Mukaber carried out a car bombing on the Armon Hanatziv promenade. The terrorist drove his truck into a group of cadets. Updated April 2025
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Nu'man (Mazmuria)
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situated on the Wall route as part of "Jerusalem Envelope," in its southeastern stretch, east of Zur Baher, Um Tuba and the small Nuaman Village, on Beit Sahur road, the checkpoint will serve as the main crossing for commercial goods from the southern West Bank to Jerusalem.
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