Eliyahu CP - The dog is out to lunch
09:00 Eliyahu CP. As in the previous shift (9.9.18), as soon as we parked this time a security guard suddenly appeared before us. Someone new this time, who isn’t familiar with Machsom Watch. He calls to Tomer, the checkpoint commander, whom we met last time.
He repeats the same instructions, move back, don’t photograph, it’s a military installation, etc…promises to give us a guided tour if we obtain approval from the checkpoint administration.
Rachel contacts Ramim, the checkpoint administration. The clerk promises to transmit our request but the tour will be conducted only after the holidays. Rachel will submit a formal request “according to regulations,” including the names of members interested in participating.
We continue to ‘Azzun, drop off parcels and visit Z. and his wife S. at their home.
11:00 Back to Eliyahu CP. No trucks from the plant nurseries.
At the Habla plant nursery we talk with A.’s nephew.
Abed, from the other plant nursery, coordinates the nurseries’ truck crossings with the checkpoint commander in order to prevent congestion. Each arrives at the appointed time. The lengthy inspections can take an hour or even two hours. When an owner of a nursery asked why he has to wait a long time he was told the dog is eating breakfast. He probably has to take a nap afterwards…
Walid, the grocer, arrives each morning from Qalqilya with fresh produce and waits for about an hour and a half for his inspection to be concluded. It’s like that every morning.
One step after another until the Habla checkpoint is closed for good.
'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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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.
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