Huwwara
Huwwara, Sunday, 12.2.06 AMObservers: Sharon W. and Diza Y. – reporting.Translation: Hanna K.An occupation routine that causes despair.7:50Za’atara Junction: Eleven vehicles headed eastwards. At the exit southwards there are three checking lanes, a lively, flowing traffic. The officer at the checkpoint reports: there is a differentiation, there is no exit from Jenin, a full check of those coming from Tul Karem.8:15Huwwara: There is one detainee in the detention’ shed. He is being released when we arrive, but is returned to Nablus.The commander A. comes up to me:I’d like to tell you that if you cross over the turnstile line you are bound to be detained by the police. My trying to ask him something while putting a finger on his shoulder causes the reaction: don’t touch me!There are about forty people in the queue. There is just one checking lane.There is a long queue of vehicles coming from Nablus. It is impossible to estimate their number.8:20 -An ambulance is being checked. It is not clear when it arrived.8:35 -The ambulance that is being checked is not allowed, for fifteen minutes, to pass, and it goes back.The vehicles pass in two lanes, but are being checked by one crew only.8:50 -A young man is being checked in the detention cell, and is returned to Nablus. There is a lively traffic of pedestrians heading for Nablus. They are not being checked.8:55 _A taxi driver who passed through the checkpoint claims that he left Nablus at 6:00 in the morning.8:56 -A bus heading for Jericho arrives at the checkpoint, about ten people descend from it. The cart owner who is transporting all kinds of objects and who has talked to the passengers of the bus tells us that they have been waiting at the checkpoint since 6:00 (we are prevented from going to the passengers who are gathered on the other side of the turnstile line).9:20 -We called the humanitarian center and reported on the long waiting period of the vehicles leaving Nablus. They promised to try and deal with the matter.9:25 -A phone call to N. – he promised to call the brigade and to deal with the matter of the vehicles.9:30 -Our repeated attempts to call A., the deputy company commander, regarding the vehicles, are to no avail.The bus is being released (after 36 minutes of checking)About 4-5 vehicles are heading for Nablus. Their checking is done very meticulously, takes ten minutes. It involves feeling the bags and lifting the tips of the trousers, and in the end also the examination of the lights. We hear the soldier who checks the vehicles telling the soldiers checking the identity cards on the computer: take your time (meaning: you don’t have to hurry, is it, after all, important when the Palestinians reach their destination?) As there is a rift between us and the soldiers, we have no possibility why they suddenly decided to check the car lights.9:40 -The turnstiles empty out, there are few people passing through them.9:50 -An elderly couple from Beit Furik are not allowed to pass. The wife’s brother who is with them tries to convince the soldiers that these are people of a certain age. The soldier: even if the woman would be hundred years old she wouldn’t be allowed to pass.10:30 -We left Huwwara.10:35 Awarta checkpoint: there are ten trucks. Some drivers report that they have been waiting for an hour at the checkpoint. The soldiers prevent us to reach the checking point.10:50 Yitzhar Junction: There are twenty cars. We stop behind the checkpoint. A soldier comes up to us and asks whether we have a problem (which made us stop). When he hears that we are from Machsom Watch he turns his back and goes away. The checking time of the cars is short, but some are coming from Nablus, so this is the second checkpoint they are forced to pass through.
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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