Huwwara, Beit Furik
HUWARRA, BEIT FURIK, Thursday 23 December 2004 PM Observers: Yardena T., Rakefet M., Shalva K. (reporting from Huwwara North)Roni K., Galit G. (reporting from Huwwara South) colour=red>Huwwara North14:00 – The checkpoint was nearly empty except for one detainee, a 15- and-a-half-year-old boy whom the General Security Services had ordered detained. [Detainees are, typically, men aged from 16 to 30 or 35 who have no passage permits; recently, young women, too, have been detained. There has also recently been a downward shift in the ages affected – now from 14 to 30 — but this can vary. The detainees’ ID details are phoned through to the General Security Services (GSS, also known as the Shabak or the Shin Bet, the Hebrew acronym for the GSS) for checking against a central list of security suspects and the answers are then relayed back to the checkpoints. This cumbersome process can take considerable time, and that can be prolonged even more if the soldiers wait to accumulate a batch of ID cards before passing them on to the GSS , or if they behave in a similarly tardy manner at the end of the process, waiting until they have a batch of GSS clearances before they release individual detainees. Meanwhile, the detainees are virtually prisoners at the checkpoint where the soldiers retain the ID cards until the entire process is completed]. The officer on duty for some reason called the boy Johnny, while the boy, tears in his eyes, insisted his name was Ihmad. He refused to give us his full name and phone number. After about half-an-hour, an army jeep arrived and the boy was handcuffed, blindfolded and taken away.14:30 – The platoon commander, Captain Y., arrived. Shalva asked to speak with him but he would not cooperate. 14:45 – A group of [ the Likud-affiliated] Women in Blue and White appeared, complete with their photographer, and we were treated to their habitual curses and photographic attention. Captain Y. spoke warmly with them. Shalva tried again to speak to him but he asked her to refrain from addressing him. Sad.Huwwara South The checkpoint was empty; eight detainees were released after 10 minutes. They were all under 25 and in possession of permits, but the checkpoint commander decided to detain them for further examination. The checking of their documents took between 10 and 30 minutes.The checkpoint remained deserted till the end of our shift.According to local people, the device intercepted this morning was nothing more than a forgotten sack of garbage which the soldiers detonated. 14:55 – The Women in Blue and White arrived. We avoided all contact with them and no conflicts arose. Meanwhile, we received a barrage of curses from a passing vehicle.15:05 – We left for Beit Furik.Beit Furik — 15:15 – 15:30There was relatively little traffic in spite of the upcoming elections. Yet in relation to the number of soldiers manning the checkpoint, the speed of passage was slow and there were around 30 people in line. Representatives of the District Coordinating Office (DCO) [the army section that handles civilian matters; it generally has representatives at the checkpoints ostensibly to alleviate the lot of the Palestinians] stood by to oversee the passage of voters.
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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Shoshi AnbarMay-18-2025Huwara: The old houses in Area C
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