Azun, Qalqiliya

E – Azun, Qalqiliya,

Movement and passage restrictions in the area of Qalqiliya (as of 23.8.07) QalqiliyaEach entering or leaving the city entails passing one of two checkpoints. The separation fence surrounds the city all the way around except for a narrow corridor leading out of the city to road 55.

​Azun: The exit/main entrance to road 55 is blocked with large concrete cubes. Leaving road 55 requires making a detour of 5 kilometers through the villages Khirbet Asla and Izbit Tabib. Except for this exit, there are four more exits from Azun, none of which to the main road. The western exit toward Qalqiliya is still blocked by an earth rampart.
Palestinian villages in Alfei Menashe enclave:

The residents of the villages are required to have residence permit in the seam-line zone. Leaving the enclave or entering the territories east of the separation fence entails inspections at Ras Atiya checkpoint or at the border checkpoint "Eliyahu Passage".
On the other hand, there is no checkpoint between the enclave and Israel. Rural roads of the villages along the separation fence have been blocked by the fence. The gates are situated far away from the roads, which prevents the land owners from getting to their parcels of land by car or tractor and they are forced to walk or use donkeys.Entry into the villages Jubara, Azun-Atma, Ras-Tira and Dab'a, that are located in the seam-line zone is allowed only to the residents themselves who are required to get an authorization to stay or a residence permit in their identity cards. Participating in events such as weddings or funerals depends on coordinating it beforehand with the DCO [District Coordination Office of the IDF Civil Administration that handles passage permits], going through strict inspections at the entrance checkpoints to these villages and a stay limited to a few hours only.13:30 – At the border passage, "Eliyahu Passage", we are held by a border Police soldier and my driver's licence is taken from me to be inspected on the police computer. It is difficult to brush aside the feeling that the Machsomwatch signs are the reason for the inspection.
Azun13:45 We enter Izbit Tabib to see if the road to Azun is still closed. We are told that it is.We see lively traffic coming from inside the village and suspect that the main exit to road 55 may have been blocked. A short drive on the main road confirms our suspicion that the entrance is in fact blocked by concrete cubes.We go back to Izbit Tabib, driving a narrow road, winding between the houses of the village and get to Azun through the village Khirbet Asla. In front of us, trucks are traveling and it is not at all clear how they are going to make it, winding between the village houses. From Azun we continue to Ar-Ras checkpoint via the road that goes under road 55.

Qalqiliya18:30 There is no line at all. The parking lot in front of the checkpoint is completely full with Israeli vehicles. We meet an Israeli and ask him if Israelis no longer come to do their shopping in Qalqiliya. He says they do come but leave their vehicles in the parking lot. At that moment we see an Israeli family, getting into a taxi that will take them to Qalqiliya. We can assume that the taxi drivers are happy with the entry restriction that the army imposed on Israelis.