Abu Dis, Container (Wadi Nar), Ras Abu Sbitan (Olive Terminal), Thu 26.8.10, Morning
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6:45 Zeitim Crossing
Few crossing, passage is swift. We crossed eastward and returned through the checkpoint. Tamar's Polish passport proved to be a grave challenge to the system. After a prolonged delay during which Tamar was first required to stand on the side, then to wait for a policeman in the third corridor, I went to fetch her Israeli passport from the car. What happens to a tourist without an Israeli passport? Wadi Nar When we arrived we found two men delayed in a private car. We couldn't tell how long they had been there, but the delay continued for a long time, and would have been even longer had it not been for our intervention. Young soldiers and military policemen, apparently new to the area, were on duty. Most of the vehicles crossed without checks. Now and then the policeman remarked to the soldier, or the soldier to the policeman, that cars were waiting, and received a jocular reply.
Most of the time both security personnel were idle, sitting in the shelter, smoking and drinking coffee.
Time passed, the two chaps still waited while no one seemed to be attending to their plight. We made a round of phone calls, after which we noted a call arriving to the booth, and then a flurry of forms being filled. A report was written, then nothing again. No rush… There's time enough… After a while, another phone call to the booth, and this time the ID's are returned to the detainees and they're on their way.
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Abu Dis / Lazarus gate (formerly The Wicket)
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Abu Dis / Lazarus Checkpoint/Gate (east of the former “wicket”)
Construction of the wall in the Abu Dis area blocked all the gaps that allowed people to cross from al-Ezariya to the neighbourhoods of Abu Dis and Ras al 'Amud that are located within Jerusalem’s municipal boundary. The Lazarus checkpoint is a gate in the wall adjacent to the Lazarus Monastery. Until 2011 it had a door for pilgrims to al-Ezariya and for the monastery’s kindergarten pupils from al-Ezariya. The crossing is currently closed, but the site has infrastructure for conducting inspections.
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Container (Wadi Nar)
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Wadi Nar Checkpoint ("Container", "The Kiosk") - a barrier for vehicles in Area B that is regularly manned - east of Abu Dis between Sawahra A Sharqiya and Bethlehem and its daughters. Controls Palestinian movement between the north and south West-Bank. Includes driving routes, access roads, spikes, traffic lights and signs. There is no pedestrian crossing. Open 24 hours a day with random checks enhanced on security alerts. The checkpoint is in Palestinian territory, allowing for separation between the north and the south Palestinian areas when necessary.
In 2015, the leading road from Azaria to Bethlehem was renovated, as well as the steep and narrow ascent to the Wadi Nar checkpoint, which was dangerously travelled in both directions! The temporary checkpoint was renovated and expanded, and pedestrian traffic was banned. From 2016, traffic travelling from the south bank to Azaria was directed to a one-way road near the Southern Keydar Jewish settlement.
Machsomwatch shifts visit this far-fetched checkpoint only occasionally.
(updated to July 2019)
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Ras Abu Sbitan (Olive Terminal)
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A large checkpoint/crossing to the area of a-Tur, Abu Dis and the Old City; only for pedestrians. Located on Jerusalem’s municipal boundary.
One of the major crossings in Jerusalem’s central sector. It is located on the separation fence between the northern portion of the al-Ezariya neighborhood and the neighborhood of a-Tur and the rest of East Jerusalem. It is manned by Border Police soldiers and private security companies and operates 24 hours a day. Palestinians are forbidden to go through, other than permanent residents of East Jerusalem (holders of blue ID cards) and holders of work and commercial permits who are allowed through only on foot.
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