After a long break, too long, we returned to tour the checkpoints of northern Jerusalem.  We went to four focal points, each one an enclave cut off by the fence and the separation wall and draconian movement restrictions. And now the outside world is going to get further away. You can follow the tour route on the map below.

The villages’ residents in the northern Jerusalem enclaves—Bido enclave, Bir Naballah enclave and Beit Iksa enclave—rely on the medical services of the hospitals in East Jerusalem, the education system is based on teachers coming from the city, and the places of work and commerce are also in Jerusalem. Israel plans to eliminate this relationship. The new and future decrees will force the residents to travel a long and tiring road, winding endlessly, to the only checkpoint in the area that will remain open for them – the Qalandiya checkpoint.  This will permanently cut them off from their urban center and severely compromise their basic human rights. The road to the West Bank territories under Palestinian control is also long and tiring, passes through underground roads and takes a long time.

Mount Shmuel checkpoint – The perimeter fence surrounding the Beit Iksa enclave (a village in the wadi below Ramot) is being moved now, and both checkpoint and the opening in the fence that was left  for the workers to arrive in time to build Jerusalem’s tunnels and its houses are being shut down now. In general, even the residents of the nearby villages cannot enter Beit Iksa. The barrier that comes from Bido and connects Beit Iksa to the outside world allows entry into the village only according to family lists.

Bido checkpoint – how do 7 villages’ residents cross from the Bido enclave to Jerusalem and the West Bank? They can only reach the underground road which is under a barrier in Bido (see map). The road goes east through another enclave, Bir Naballah. From there they enter the West Bank. Entering Israel can only happen through the remote and always congested Qalandiya checkpoint.  What kind of detour must be traveled to enter even close by areas of Jerusalem like the Ramot neighborhood…? About 20 km. How long does it take? Hours.

The imprisoned house in New Givon settlement– a house from Beit Ijza is imprisoned in Givon Hachadasha (New Givon) between walls and a personal barrier above the system road. why? Because New Givon was not ready to give up the area where this house is located, on the private land of a resident of Beit Ijza.  Hana tells in the attached video about the house from Beit Ijza that is locked in the New Givon settlement, surrounded by walls and a personal barrier.

 Nabi Samuel enclave – We visited our acquaintance Id Barakat and heard about the events in Nabi Samwil whose residents hold Palestinians ID cards and do not get entry permits to Jerusalem.  All your existence hangs on being “on the list” – the list that enables entry or exit to the village, of course to the areas under Palesinians authority rule only.  Your brother, who lives in the next enclave, within walking distance, will meat you from now only “on the moon”, because all else is blocked.  Of course during the war the situation didn’t get any better.   Eid Barakat from Nabi Samuel speaks about the sudden checks at the residents’ homes and their effect on their freedom of movement.  In Nabi Samuel there is not a dull moment:  One has to be on constant alert to sudden check-ups that were meant to discover who doesn’t have any room in the home (which causes erasure from the list of those allowed to get to the village) or discovering some small chicken coop which has been erected.

We heard the story of a house that was sold to a Jewish association through a collaborator’s deception, and about the hardships of cultivating private agricultural plots. “It’s all geared to make us want to leave from our house, our land.” Today there are 350 residents instead of the 5,000 that could have been there. Living in a cage. How long?