'Anabta, 'Azzun, Deir Sharaf, Eliyahu Crossing, Jubara (Kafriat), Mon 24.8.09, Morning

Place:

'Anabta

Jubara (Kafriat)

'Azzun

Eliyahu Crossing

Deir Sharaf

Tags:

Flying Checkpoints

Walls and Blockades

Observers:

Yael S. Zahava G. (Reporting); Translation: Bracha B.A.

Aug-24-2009

Morning

Checkpoint 109

06:30 - "Eliyahu Crossing" - Workers going to Alpnei Menasheh are going through in orderly groups of five. A staff member sends them through to the turnstile where their documents are sent. Most are from Qalqilya, Azun, and Mar Elias.

It is now Ramadan, and people are not carrying food with them to work. We can talk to people a bit. The atmosphere is calm and there is no pressure. Most work in construction (has construction in the settlements been halted?) Women coming through probably work cleaning houses.

Ras Atiya

07:15 - It is quiet and calm. Three bored soldiers check cars going east. Drivers live in Israel but are permitted to travel only in the occupied territories.

Azzun

07:40 - The western entrance road leading to the industrial area is open. The main entrance road is blocked with a high mount of earth and rocks. Pedestrians cannot get through there either. Is this a punishment for some terrible sin that the residents committed or upon request of the neighboring settlers?

The Road East

7:45 - We continue on the main road and near "Ma'aleh Shomron" at the junction a bus passes opposite us with yeshiva students entering the settlement. The question is if it is part of the general bad behavior of the drivers or whether they saw our flags.

07:55 - There is a hummer parked at the side of the road at the Jit Junction. There are no soldiers in the surrounding area and traffic is flowing.

Deir Sharaf

08:00 - Traffic is flowing and there are even dog handlers to check and train the dogs. We didn't see them stopping anyone, not even cars with Israeli license plates that could continue on to Nablus. When we asked if we could go on to Shavei Shomron we were told we could not.

Anabta

08:17 - There are no cars going into Tulkarem and those going out are not being held up. For a change no soldiers are running towards us to warn us that we have to leave because we are disturbing them. Our explanation for this is that since this checkpoint has been renovated and made into a model of the good life, the soldiers don't leave their air-conditioned booths. They harass the Palestinians less and both sides benefit.

Jubara

08:35 - The "Te'enim" Gate is opened quickly by a polite officer and at checkpoint 753 several wagons and horses pass through. There is one detainee and there is a problem. He explains that his I.D. card fell into the water and therefore it looks battered. The checkpoint commander claims that it is forged and that the photograph has been pasted in place of the original photo. He did not show us the I.D. Even if this is true, we know that it is very difficult and expensive to purchase a new I.D. and "renovating" an old I.D. can often provide a temporary solution.

The commander called the police. We wait. After more than a half hour of waiting for the police we suggested that the commander complain about us and say that we are disturbing and from our past experience they would come quickly, but he does not cooperate. The detainee did not speak Hebrew and he did not have a phone, so we could not follow up the situation.

Habla

09:45 - The agricultural checkpoint was already locked. There was no one around to ask and no sign announcing when the gate is opened and closed for farmers.

Location Description

'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.

Anabta checkpoint

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The checkpoint is located south of the village of Anabta, at the intersection of Road 60 (leading to Nablus at the entrance to Area A), with Road (57, 557, 5576) facing west towards the Einav settlement and the checkpoint at the exit from the West Bank - Figs checkpoint.
Until 2010 we used to watch the intersection and report the long columns created due to a slow inspection of the vehicles in both directions.

Oct-29-2011

Anabta checkpoint 24.10.11

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Deir Sharaf checkpoint

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Deir Sharaf checkpoint is located west of Nablus and south of the settlement of Shavei Shomron, at the entrance to the village of Deir Sharaf on the road leading to Nablus. The checkpoint was activated in early March 2009 after the Beit Iba checkpoint was closed. Palestinians are allowed through the checkpoint , but not for Israelis. Unlike the checkpoints leading to Qalqilya and Tulkarm, crossing of Israeli Palestinians is only allowed on Saturdays.

Feb-29-2024

Nina Seba

Deir Sharaf - the entrance to the village

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Jubara (Kafriat) Checkpoint

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The Jabra checkpoint was on Road 557, south of Tulkarm, on the side of the Figs Pass, which is located within the Palestinian Authority (a few kilometers east of the Green Line), and serves as an entry barrier from the territories to Israel.

The checkpoint to the village of Jubara, which until 2013 was in the seam area info-icon , blocked and surrounded by a fence, was intended for the passage of the family members of the house next to the checkpoint, and also for the MachsomWatch volunteers (with special permission only), on their way to checkpoint 753. on the other side of the village.

The soldiers supervising the "fig crossing" also supervised the crossing at this checkpoint, in our shifts we often waited a long time until the key was found and the gate opened. The checkpoint was abolished and became part of the separation fence that was moved west following the High Court.

Eliyahu Crossing

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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 Tzufin, 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 info-icon are also allowed to pass through it, on foot, and sometimes by car.