Eliyahu Crossing, Habla, Huwwara, Jayyus, Wed 30.1.13, Afternoon
Translator: Charles K.
Our guest is a young theater person from the US travelling around Israel and the West Bank to record people and collect material for a play. As we cross the bridge over Highway 6 I point out the location of the Green Line, the 1967 border. A few hundred yards farther on we reach the turn to the Habla checkpoint, an agricultural gate open three times a week. What’s most annoying these days to people cultivating their land beyond the fence is that the gate opens very late in the afternoon when it’s already dark, and they’re forced to wait a long time after they’ve finished working in order to return home to Habla and Qalqilya.
12:45 Habla. While waiting for the gate to open, A. explains that all the surrounding lands belong to residents of Qalqilya and Azzun who must get special permits which are hard to obtainin order to reach their land. The separation fence has been built on part of their land, robbing them of a large area because it requires a strip 40-60 meters wide that cuts them off from their holdings. He mentions the village of A-Tira which had been in the Alfei Menashe enclave until the High Court ordered the fence route changed so it now adjoins their homes, cutting them off from some of their land. He believes both peoples have a right to their own country, but they also have the right not to be divided from one another.
13:00 Soldiers came to open the checkpoint. A woman from Habla and two young men from Qalqilya are waiting. One of the latter speaks a little Hebrew, explaining he works in the plant nurseries, arrives at 8 each morning, goes home in the afternoon. He earns NIS 70 a day, pays NIS 20 for transportation and NIS 10 for lunch, leaving him with NIS 40. He has no choice; even NIS 40 is more than he could earn in Qalqilya.
Little traffic in each direction, apparently because of the rain.
13:30 We continued toward Alfei Menashe; we showed our guest the new fence mentioned above that had been built so that Ras a-Tira would be located on the other side, and the big gates through which the villagers were supposed to cross, but they’re always shut (except, possibly, for a few days during the olive harvest season). Then, after briefly driving through Alfei Menashe, we reached Arab a-Ramadinto see whether the school is still standing. We saw the start of new construction, in addition to the three classrooms and teachers’ room. Because of the rain there was no one we could ask whether it was still in danger of being demolished.
14:00 Eliyahu checkpoint. No cars detained. They explained that the reason the checkpoint was placed here, a few kilometers from the border, was to take over Palestinian land and to make the residents of Alfei Menashe feel they’re in Israel.
Azzun: We visited Z., who was very glad for all we brought and was willing to be interviewed and tell his story. He had been strong and healthy and worked in construction until he was caught by the police without a permit to work in Israel; they beat him badly in the head and everywhere on his body even though he asked them to stop, that he’s not guilty of anything other than the need to work and support his wife and children. He was jailed for four months and despite his complaints wasn’t permitted to see a doctor. Since his released he’s been suffering from neurological problems that have prevented him from working. He’s been examined many times in Palestinian and Israeli hospitals but they haven’t yet discovered the cause of his illness. He also recounted the time that soldiers invaded his home, broke down the door to search for weapons and saw him trembling. When he explained that he wasn’t trembling out of fear, but because of illness, they told him that since he couldn’t work he was probably dealing in weapons. They came with dogs which frightened the children and defiled the refrigerator.
15:00 We drove to Jayyous to show the road passing under Highway 55, the main highway, on which Palestinians drive north to Tulkarm through all the villages.
We returned to Highway 55 heading east, then south via the settlement of Emanuel to Hars, the settlement of Ariel and the Za’tara/Tapuach junction. This time no soldiers were in position and traffic flowed freely.
16:00 Huwwara. Recently there have been reports that soldiers are stopping and inspecting cars heading toward Nablus. We saw no soldiers this time; cars went through in both directions without slowing. We explained how this large checkpoint far from the border with Israel, separating Nablus from the rest of the West Bank, once operated, forcing people to cross on foot after a long wait in congested lines, and how this “security requirement” that embittered the lives of thousands day after day for years suddenly, one day, simply vanished.
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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Habla
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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 SebaJan-30-2013Habla checkpoint: the checkpoint is open.
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Huwwara
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The Huwwara checkpoint is an internal checkpoint south of the city of Nablus, at the intersection of Roads 60 and 5077 (between the settlements of Bracha and Itamar). This checkpoint was one of the four permanent checkpoints that closed on Nablus (Beit Furik and Awarta checkpoints to the east and the Beit Iba checkpoint to the west). It was a pedestrian-only barrier. As MachsomWatch volunteers, we watched therre since 2001 two shifts a day - morning and noon, the thousands of Palestinians leaving Nablus and waiting for hours in queues to reach anywhere else in the West Bank, from the other side of the checkpoint the destination could only be reached by public transport. In early June 2009, as part of the easing of Palestinian traffic in the West Bank, the checkpoint was opened to vehicular traffic. The passage was free, with occasional military presence in the guard tower. Also, there were vehicle inspections from time to time. Since the massacre on 7.10.2023, the checkpoint has been closed to Palestinians.
On February 26, 2023, about 400 settlers attacked the town's residents for 5 hours and set fire to property, such as houses and cars. Disturbances occurred in response to a shooting of two Jewish residents of Har Bracha by a Palestinian Terrorist. The soldiers stationed in the town did not prevent the arson and rescued Palestinian families from their homes only after they were set on fire. No one was punished and Finance Minister Smotrich stated that "the State of Israel should wipe out Hawara." Left and center organizations organized solidarity demonstrations and support actions for the residents of Hawara.Hawara continued to be in the headlines in all the months that followed: more pogroms by the settlers, attacks by Palestinians and a massive presence of the army in the town. It amounted to a de facto curfew of commerce and life in the center of the city. On October 5, 2023, MK Zvi established a Sukkah in the center of Hawara and hundreds of settlers backed the army blocked the main road and held prayers in the heart of the town all night and the next day. On Saturday, October 7, 23 The "Swords of Iron" war began with an attack by Hamas on settlements surrounding Gaza in the face of a poor presence of the IDF. Much criticism has been made of the withdrawal of military forces from the area surrounding Gaza and their placement in the West Bank, and in the Hawara and Samaria region in particular, as a shield for the settlers who were taking over and rioting.
On November 12, 2023, the first section of the Hawara bypass road intended for Israeli traffic only was opened. In this way, the settlers can bypass the road that goes through the center of Hawara, which is the main artery for traffic from the Nablus area to Ramallah and the south of the West Bank. For the construction of the road, the Civil Administration expropriated 406 dunams of private land belonging to Palestinians from the nearby villages. The settlers are not satisfied with this at the moment, and demand to also travel through Hawara itself in order to demonstrate presence and control.(updated November 2023)
.Fathiya AkfaJan-30-2013Huwara: traffic jam on the main road
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Jayyus North (935)
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