Huwwara AM
HUWWARA, Saturday 10 July 2004 AMObservers: Nurit L., Michal S,, Guest: Matilda, and Vivi reporting colour = red>For part of part of this watch we were joined by Hanna B., Hava H., and their guest Matthew, and also by guests from the Ecumenical ChurchHuwwara South – There was very lively traffic of pedestrians. There were also many detainees, most of whom had given the soldiers documents for checking, who were now waiting for answers [from the General Security Services (GSS)] in a kind of concrete cage which is about one metre high and 10-15 square metres in area . Some 40 young men were crowded in here and had already been waiting for one or two hours. There was no shade and the men were forced to sit on ground in the dirt despite their protests that their clothes were getting filthy. The soldiers were businesslike and quiet apart from T. who shouted at the Palestinians. . The commander, Sgt. O. , asked him to speak more quietly and eventually sent him to check vehicles.Most of the detainees set off towards Nablus after the GSS check even when they were not in the category of “passage permitted”. The District Co-ordinating Office (DCO) representative , A., was helpful on both occasions when he came to the checkpoint and eventually let almost all the detainees through [the DCO is the army section that handles civilian matters; it usually has representatives at the checkpoints, ostensibly to alleviate the lot of the Palestinians].Checking of bags : the soldiers ordered the porters to open the bags of certain people whose owners had not asked for their services. What a strange collaboration emerged as private belongings were exposed to public view and the porters asked payment for this “service”.Huwwara North – There was little pedestrian traffic. Some 10 detainees were seated with their backs to the checkpoint. N., of the DCO, was present all the time, and here too we were witness to the strange practice whereby the porters were asked to bring the baggage of certain people for checking and then claimed payment for the service from those whose bags had been selected in this way. Checkpoints: At Tapuah junction about 30 vehicles waiting to go south were held up by the checks.At Jaba there was a line of about 70 vehicles coming from Jerusalem to Ramallah through Road 60. At the checkpoint, a Border Police jeep blocked the road.A-Ram checkpoint, 12:00 to 12:30 — We arrived here after trying to visit the tent where Palestinians were protesting against the “separation” wall , but we found that the tent had been abandoned after the International Court of Justice in The Hague had ruled against Israel in this matter. The line of waiting vehicles scarcely budged: there were also several large vans with passengers. Border Policemen checked every passenger thoroughly and slowly. At 17:30 we were told by phone that the situation at the checkpoint had not changed and there was still scarcely any movement. We contacted F., of the DCO in Beit El, and later also called the army’s “humanitarian” hotline.
Huwwara
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The Huwwara checkpoint is an internal checkpoint south of the city of Nablus, at the intersection of Roads 60 and 5077 (between the settlements of Bracha and Itamar). This checkpoint was one of the four permanent checkpoints that closed on Nablus (Beit Furik and Awarta checkpoints to the east and the Beit Iba checkpoint to the west). It was a pedestrian-only barrier. As MachsomWatch volunteers, we watched therre since 2001 two shifts a day - morning and noon, the thousands of Palestinians leaving Nablus and waiting for hours in queues to reach anywhere else in the West Bank, from the other side of the checkpoint the destination could only be reached by public transport. In early June 2009, as part of the easing of Palestinian traffic in the West Bank, the checkpoint was opened to vehicular traffic. The passage was free, with occasional military presence in the guard tower. Also, there were vehicle inspections from time to time. Since the massacre on 7.10.2023, the checkpoint has been closed to Palestinians.
On February 26, 2023, about 400 settlers attacked the town's residents for 5 hours and set fire to property, such as houses and cars. Disturbances occurred in response to a shooting of two Jewish residents of Har Bracha by a Palestinian Terrorist. The soldiers stationed in the town did not prevent the arson and rescued Palestinian families from their homes only after they were set on fire. No one was punished and Finance Minister Smotrich stated that "the State of Israel should wipe out Hawara." Left and center organizations organized solidarity demonstrations and support actions for the residents of Hawara.Hawara continued to be in the headlines in all the months that followed: more pogroms by the settlers, attacks by Palestinians and a massive presence of the army in the town. It amounted to a de facto curfew of commerce and life in the center of the city. On October 5, 2023, MK Zvi established a Sukkah in the center of Hawara and hundreds of settlers backed the army blocked the main road and held prayers in the heart of the town all night and the next day. On Saturday, October 7, 23 The "Swords of Iron" war began with an attack by Hamas on settlements surrounding Gaza in the face of a poor presence of the IDF. Much criticism has been made of the withdrawal of military forces from the area surrounding Gaza and their placement in the West Bank, and in the Hawara and Samaria region in particular, as a shield for the settlers who were taking over and rioting.
On November 12, 2023, the first section of the Hawara bypass road intended for Israeli traffic only was opened. In this way, the settlers can bypass the road that goes through the center of Hawara, which is the main artery for traffic from the Nablus area to Ramallah and the south of the West Bank. For the construction of the road, the Civil Administration expropriated 406 dunams of private land belonging to Palestinians from the nearby villages. The settlers are not satisfied with this at the moment, and demand to also travel through Hawara itself in order to demonstrate presence and control.(updated November 2023)
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Ronit Dahan-RamatiAug-24-2026Huwara: The school on the outskirts of town and an outpost hidden among the trees
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