Eliyahu Crossing, Habla, Kufr Jammal, Tue 23.4.13, Afternoon
The main goal: To gather information about Palestinians in Kafr Jamal who aren’t able to cultivate their lands in the seam zone on a regular basis.
13:00 Habla checkpoint
A number of Palestinians and cars wait on both sides of the checkpoint for it to open.
13:05 The military vehicle arrives, though late; the soldiers get organized quickly and soon the first group of seven Palestinian crosses toward Habla. An Israeli vehicle belonging to a pesticide company is also permitted through after a discussion with the soldiers. The Palestinians we spoke to don’t have any complaints.
13:30 The children’s bus goes through.
14:00 Eliyahu gate checkpoint
No delays in the lanes to Israel.
14:30 Kafr Jamal
After a few phone calls and help from local residents we found the place we were to meet H.K., whom we’d met two weeks ago. We’d asked him, as did Petahya and Chana A. who’d met him last week, to prepare a list of the people who can’t get to their lands and aren’t able to cultivate them. A few other residents of the village joined us, including one who spoke Hebrew. We received a list of 14 residents who aren’t able to cultivate their lands as they should because they can’t bring a tractor and equipment to them.
They explained that in order to reach their lands after going through the Falamya gate, which is open for 12 hours, they must drive north along the security road to five gates scattered along the concertina wire fence west of the road. Three or four families used to go through each of those gates to their lands which were nearby, and they could raise various crops, other than olive trees. But these gates have been long closed. The stated reason for the closing had been damage caused by wild boars. They’ve been opened since only for a few days during the olive harvest.
They say that olive groves also have to be worked from time to time and today they have no convenient way to reach their land, and tractors can’t get there at all. They’d like those gates, at least the middle one among the five, to be open at least two days a week all year long so every farmer can reach their land, cultivate it and grow what he wants without hindrance. A reasonable request everywhere no fence separates a person from their land – that is, where there’s no occupation. About a year ago they toured the area with ‘Adel (Roni mediated) who promised he’d try to have the army open at least the middle of the five gates. The army didn’t agree.
We drove together for about one kilometer along the road to observe the area. Their lands extend all the way from Sal’it with its red roofed homes in the north to Tzur Yig’al. Large areas among the groups of vineyards seem uncultivated.
15:30 We returned via Kafr Elias.
16:00 Eliyahu gate
We noticed the signs. The right lane is for Palestinians with permits. In front of us, in the Israeli lane, the security guard had a long conversation with a driver, inspected his ID card, his car, and sent him to be checked in the shed to the right. She also was curious about us and asked (among other things) whether we weren’t afraid.
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 SebaApr-23-2013Habla checkpoint: the checkpoint is open.
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Kufr Jammal
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Kufr Jammal This village, rising about 200 meters over sea level, is located about 14 kilometers south of Tul Karm town and about 17 kilometers from the Mediterranean Sea. The families living there since the mid-18th century number about 3,000 persons at present. The village has lost thousands of dunams of its northern and western lands due to the construction of the Separation Barrier, leaving the lands themselves behind the barrier. After the Israeli Supreme Court ruling in 2011, the barrier was moved to the west and many farmlands were returned to their owners. It is a quiet village, its relations with the nearby settler-colony of Sal’it are favorable, and many of the villagers work in the colony’s industrial plants. Farmers cross the agricultural checkpoint close to this settler-colony in order to tend their fields unhampered. However, there are numerous acts of harassment and disorder taking place when the village farmers cross the other agricultural checkpoints: gates do not open at hours suitable to the farmers’ needs, and for a short period of time only; the Civil Administration usually prevents all kinds of crops except olives; tractors and other farm equipment are forbidden entry; only a single permit is issued per family, and occasionally such permits are confiscated and their re-issue is delayed – the common excuse is usually “security reasons”. How do the villagers make their living? Holders of work permits inside Israel travel at 3 a.m. to Eyal Checkpoint near Qalqiliya town in order to make it on time to their workplace at Sal’it (close to their village) and elsewhere. Owners of vegetable patches who hold permits are allowed to reach their fields beyond the Separation Barrier through the distant Falamiya Checkpoint. Importantly, fields returned to the village show amazing improvement intending, irrigation and farming variety – and instead of the neglected olive tree groves that were accessible only to holders of transit permits through agricultural checkpoints usually closed, farming has now flourished. (updated Jan 2021)
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