Azzoun Atme has seen a day of severe aggression and complete siege which shut down the life of the village already under strain from the Occupationâs policies. Azzoun Atme was completely isolated by troops as the Occupation forces assaulted a farmer and closed the route into the village, preventing residents from reaching home and work.
***image2***The Occupation forces stopped Abdul Latif Sharif Omar, 36 years old, at the gate in Azzoun Atme and beat him at the gate of the Apartheid Wall which constitutes the only entrance and exit for the village to the rest of the West Bank. During the barbaric assault, they beat him with their gun backs, injuring in his face and leaving him unable to move his arm and leg because because of the blows they had inflicted. Finally, he had to be taken to the hospital in Qalqiliya.
After that the Occupation closed the gate and preventing the movement of residents. The people from Azzoun Atme were stuck at both sides of the gate unable to move into or out of the village.
Teachers working in the village school were further prohibited from entering the village after they defied new Occupation rules of harassment and control. Teachers were asked for the first time to pass through the electronic machines that have been recently installed at the gate. However, the teachers claim that being subjected to these electronic machines may seriously affect their health, as well as infringing upon their dignity and rights. In an act of open defiance, the teachers refused to go through the gate.
Finally, the Occupation army put large concrete blocs on the south entrance, completing the siege on the village. Farmers and the owners of the supermarket and factory were blocked and unable to reach again to their homes.
Azzoun Atme is one of the 14 villages that have been isolated between the Green Line, the Apartheid Wall and the settlements. The Occupation bars all Palestinians who are not born and living in Azzoun Atme from entering the village completely isolating the community. The ID card of each person attempting to enter the village is controlled and if he or she is not from the village they are not allowed to pass. Not even international human rights organizations are allowed to enter this village and if they do so they have to coordinate with the occupation army and the commander of the army in the area.
All these policies together make life in the village unbearable and are aimed at depopulating and annihilating the village to annex and colonize its lands.