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Burin (Yitzhar), Eliyahu Crossing, Habla Checkpoint (1393), Nabi Ilyas, Za’tara (Tapuah)

Observers: Fathiya Akfa, Esty  Weingarten, Riva Bachrach (reporting) Driver: Mustafa from Kafr Qasem; Translator: Louise Levi
Sep-15-2016
| Afternoon

13:45  Hable agricultural checkpoint (opposite Qalqiliya)

Four young men/ teenagers? standing under the roof are waiting for their friend. There’s no school because today is the last day of the “Eid ul Adha” holiday.

14:00  Eliyahu Crossing

            Nabi Elias

Hardly anybody is crossing through the gate. There is not much traffic anywhere due to the holiday.

14:10  Kafr Jit

An army Jeep is parking at the junction. It’s probably connected to the “Sela” army post due to Kfar Attil. Israelis are not allowed to enter since this is area A, close to Nablus.

There are soldiers at the Hawara checkpoint as well as at the bus stops along the road in order to protect the settlers (especially from Itamar). There are no delays. We speak to a young soldier, about 19 years old, who approaches us wondering what we are doing at the checkpoint. He is quite friendly and listens to our explanation but he insists that this area is part of “Eretz Israel”. When we try to contradict him he tells us that he has passed his geography matriculation exam so he knows the area well….

We drive on. From above we see Beit-Furik which has grown and expanded a lot. There are soldiers in the tower but not outside. We drive on in the direction of Huwara. At the Awarta checkpoint there is an entrance to Nablus, so the gate is closed.

We drive through Burin trying to reach the local council in Madama, but because of the holiday nobody answers our calls. Fatchiya speaks to the greengrocer next to the council building and he gives the same explanation.  We also realize that we won’t be able to reach Einabus, Beita or Burin because of the holiday eve. 

15:40  Beita is not closed!

Za’atra junction:

A  soldier is standing on the side of the road. An army vehicle is also parking there.

Many Palestinian vehicles are driving from the Za’atra junction towards Hawara. (No cars are going in the opposite direction.)

16:00 At the traffic lights in Kafr Mas’ha.

16:05  At the Shomron Crossing.

  • A-Nabi Elias

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    • A-Nabi Elias this is a Palestinian village in the northern West Bank, east of Qalqilia on Road 55, north-east of Alfei Menashe colony and west of Karnei Shomron colony and the Palestinian city of Nablus. As of 2016, the village was populated by 1,458 inhabitants.

      Near the village is a maqam (holy site memorializing a sanctified person) - the prophet Elisha. Until 2021 Road 55 crossed the village. Then a bypass road was paved through olive groves that were sequestered from the villagers. Consequently, the farmers were left with small olive groves that they could not access nor cultivate. Inhabitants protested against the road for weeks, supported by peace activists, but nothing helped and the road is now a given fact.

      The village's main street had been a shopping center for all residents, including colonists. We even saw a Kashrut (kosher food) inspector in a butcher shop close to the falafel stand… The bypass road, according to tradesmen, has impacted their businesses and clients, while others claim that there are customers now for parking has become easier.

      Alfei Menashe and Tzofim colonies nibble at the village lands from the north and south and get closer to it all the time. Colonists of Alfei Menashe have outdone themselves, sending their surplus sewage from the oxygenation pools toward a-Nabi Elias land, even reaching the houses.

      The villagers are known as seekers of peace. For years there was no hostility towards Israelis. On the contrary, we were always welcomed warmly and stopped there to enjoy their delicious, inexpensive falafel.

  • Burin (Yitzhar)

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    • Burin (Yitzhar)

      This is a Palestinian village in the Nablus governorate, a little south of Nablus, on the main road passing through the West Bank. The settlements: Yitzhar and Har Bracha, settled in locations that surrounded the village, placed fences so it is cut off the main road.

      There are around 4000 inhabitants. Most of them are engaged in agriculture and pasture, although many graduates of the two secondary schools continue to study at the university. Academic positions are hardly available, they find work as builderd, or leave for the Gulf countries.

      The village lands were appropriated several times for the establishment of Israeli settlements and military bases, and as a result, Burin's land and water resources dwindled. lSince 1982, more than 2,000 dunams of village land have been declared "state land" and then transferred to Har Bracha settlement.

      Over the past few years and more so since 2017, the villagers have been terrorized by the residents of Yitzhar and Har Bracha, the Givat Ronen outpost and others. Despite the close proximity of soldiers to an IDF base close to one of the village's schools, residents are suffering from numerous stone-throwing events, vehicle and fire arson, also reported in the press.

      In 2023, the prevention of the olive harvest in the village plot was more violent than ever. Soldiers and settlers walked with drawn weapons between the houses of the village and demanded that people stop harvesting in the village itself and in the private plots outside the village. The settlers from Yitzhar and Giv'at Roned raided the olive groves and stole crops. 300 olive trees belonging to the residents of Burin, near Yitzhar, were uprooted. The loss of livelihood from the olives causes long-term economic damage to the farmers' families, bringing them to the point of starvation.

      (updated for November 2023)

  • Eliyahu CP (109) / Crossing

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    • Eliyahu CP (109) / Crossing This checkpoint, also known as the Fruit Crossing, is one of the main checkpoints between Israel and the West Bank. It is located on Route 55 between Alfei Menashe and the turn to Qalqilya and Zufin, more than 4 km east of the Green Line, in the separation fence, which separates Qalqilya from its lands to the south, thus leaving Alfei Menashe West of the fence - the Seam Zone. This checkpoint, a few kilometers across the Green Line, is intended for "Israeli settlement in the West Bank and the population of the Seam Zone." It is managed by a civil company. Palestinians with a special permit for their lands in the seam area are also allowed to pass through it, on foot, and sometimes by car.  
  • 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.

       

      מחסום חבלה: מערכת שערים
      Ronit Dahan-Ramati
      Apr-25-2025
      Habla Checkpoint: system of gates
  • Za'tara (Tapuah)

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    • Za'tara (Tapuah) Za'tara is an internal checkpoint in the heart of the West Bank, at the intersection of Road 60 and Road 505 (Trans-Samaria), east of the Tapuah settlement. This checkpoint is the "border" marked by the IDF between the north and south of the West Bank, in accordance with the policy of separation between the two parts of the West Bank that has been in place since December 2005. At the Za'tara checkpoint, there are separate routes for Israelis and Palestinians. In the route for Israelis, there are no inspections and the route for Palestinians inspects. The queue lengthens and shortens suits. The checkpoint is open 24 hours a day. The checkpoint is partially staffed and the people who pass through it are checked at random.  
      זעתרא (צומת תפוח). שלטים
      Shoshi Anbar
      Sep-27-2023
      Za'atra (Tapuah Intersection). Signs
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