IOF places tight grip on village near Nablus

[ 29/05/2011 – 06:55 PM ]

The gate villagers have to cross

QALQILYA, (PIC)– The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) has tightened procedures at the gates of the separation wall in the Azzun Atma village near Qalqilya, locals have reported.

For the past week, the IOF has been curbing civilian movement there through provocative searches and inspections.

Long lines of students, farmers, and laborers have mounted daily outside the gates as searches continue.

Azzoun Atma is encircled by the Orinet, Shaarei Tikva, Elkana settlements, which are said to serve as a “death certificate” to the farming village as they blockade it and take the majority of the land and restrict the possibility of its expansion.

Walls have been erected on all four sides of the village for alleged security reasons.

Khalid Raddad, a resident, points out that the planning situation has isolated Azzoum Atma from nearby villages Beit Amin and Sineria, which serve as natural extensions to it. The result is that families are separated from each other as well as farmers from their fields.

“We are forced to cross the wall’s gates which are only opened for us during the daytime after waiting hours in an inspection line. We have to also cross a physical inspection whenever we want to leave the village to buy something or for work or for school or just to go to whatever is beyond the wall,” Khalid says.

He goes on to say that outsiders are not permitted to enter, and school teachers and women married outside face major inconveniences when going in and out of the village and must produce permits for that.

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