Har Shmuel Checkpoint
This checkpoint is located on the way between Bidou and the enclave villages around Nabi Samauil, and separates them. It also blocks the way for Nabi Samauil farmers headed to their own farmlands that have become ‘state land’. Further along, the way to Bidou is another unmanned barrier blocking the road to Beit Iksa. Another large manned checkpoint with a watchtower separates the Bidou enclave from Israel proper. Importantly, the entire Bidou enclave is defined Area C and C by the Oslo Accords, and its fencing-in as an enclave was carried out in order to take over Palestinian land and build settler-colonies on it.
The holes in the barrier fence close to Har Shmuel are used for pedestrians working inside Israel. The workers we have met said that the way they must take from their home inside the enclave to their workplace in Jerusalem about 15 kilometers long – through another enclave: Bir Naballah. Driving this way in part involves potholed tracks, finally landing them at the overcrowded Qalandiya Checkpoint, which they cross to their work inside Israel. Incidentally, some of the workplaces are right opposite the Bidou enclave, so their track ends up being nearly circular.
