Elkana, Oranit, Azzun, Falamiya Checkpoints - a short tour to a new member
We conducted a brief tour for a new member whose scheduled tour had been cancelled, and returned to the Falamya checkpoints.
11:30 After visiting Elkana, the Maskha checkpoint (Hani’s house) and the Oranit checkpoint, and explaining about the separation barrier and the seam zone created as a result of the “annexation” of the settlements we drove north on highway 444 to highway 55.
Eliyahu checkpoint: No trucks with seedlings at this hour. We spend considerable time at Z’s, not only to unload goods but also so that the new members will learn about him first hand. The children were in the home, which was very cold, and his wife insisted on offering us tea even though she appeared very ill.
We continued to Falamya describing what we passed, including Jayous and the other villages along the road to Tulkarm.
13:45 Falamiya north (914). The gate was already closed when we arrived, the soldiers in the military vehicle, and we also continued to Falamiya south (935) which mostly serves residents of Jayous. It was an opportunity to show Rachel and Amala the varied and flourishing agriculture created in the area returned to the farmers after the fence was relocated to the west.
We arrived a few minutes before the gate opened. Only a tractor pulling a wagon and a large truck were there. One of the farmers said he (?) doesn’t have any problems now with permits. He went directly to the Israeli DCL in Qalqilya. Others apply for permits through the Jayous municipality.
A pile of sacks lay near the gate – fertilizer, apparently.
The truck had already gone back the way it came. The driver must have been allowed to bring the sacks to his land in the seam zone. Three armed soldiers stood beside him and inspected each sack he loaded onto the vehicle. At one point the allotted quota had apparently been reached and the truck driver continued to the seam zone, leaving the remaining sacks by the roadside.
Only one tractor and two farmers entered, and at 13:40 the soldiers closed the checkpoint.
We returned via the former security road to Jayous and by the time we reached Habla the checkpoint had closed.
'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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Falamiya North (914)
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Falamiya North (914) Opens 3 times a day for about 40 minutes each time. This checkpoint has extremely important for all farmers in the area since the previous, Falamya checkpoint opening routine of continuously open for 12 hours has been discontinued. This took place after the separation fence was moved westward following the High Court of Justice.
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Falamiya South (935)
See all reports for this placeOranit CP (1474)
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Oranit CP (1474) Oranit Checkpoint (4) (formerly 1474) An agricultural checkpoint in the separation wall serves the farmers of 'Azzun' Atma, whose land is in the seam zone near Oranit. Since the construction of the new wall in 2013. Was opened 3 times a day. Since 2018, the army has refused to open it except during the olive harvest. Since 2018, it has been opened only during the olive harvest and the farmers have to pass daily at the Beit Amin / Abu Salman checkpoint (1447). Fein Report from March 24, 2021: "The farmers from Beit Amin and Azzun Atma are happy that since last month the checkpoint has been open 3 times a day, at 6 in the morning, at 1 in the afternoon and at 4 in the afternoon. The farmers are really developing the place. "
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