Huwara
Huwwara 16 March 2006 a.m.Watchers: Nava A., Tal B. (reporting)On the way to the shift we hear the news of the shooting at Israelis in the town of Huwwara and expect a commotion at the roadblocks.On the apartheid Road No. 5 we see Palestinian taxis and one civilian vehicle.Za’atra Junction7:30 a.m. When we get to the roadblock there are no vehicles at all from the direction of Huwwara and the traffic going towards Huwwara is blocked. All the cars, even those of the settlers and those from Shomron, await the opening of the roadblock.A bus arrives from the direction of Huwwara and the passengers alight for inspection. I ask where they came from and a young man tells us that there is a roadblock by Beita and they bypassed it on a different road.The soldiers, in contrast to previous times, do not tell the pedestrians to get into cars. There are ten cars from the direction of Ariel.8:05 a.m.The lane in the direction of Nablus is opened.8:10 a.m.We leave Za’atra in the direction of Huwwara.There is no roadblock at Yitzhar Junction.Huwwara roadblock8:20 a.m. Pedestrians are directed to a lane that passes by the detainees’ hut.Cars are not permitted to leave Nablus apart from emergency vehicles.8:30 a.m.The roadblock is open for cars. There are few people at the roadblock and the DCO representative says it is because they heard about the shooting and preferred not to leave home.There is an x-ray machine.Awarta8:45 a.m. The roadblock is closed; it was not opened at all this morning. Nava approaches the guard tower to find out if there are any soldiers there. She finds one soldier who says that because of the incident all the vehicles are in Huwwara and there are no army vehicles at the roadblock (yes, yes that’s what he said).We contact the DCO and the Brigade; they say they will find out what is happening.We leave but intend to come back.Beit Furiq9:00 a.m. The roadblock opened at 6:00 a.m., with one checkpoint. The inspections are quick.We telephone again to the DCO, he spoke to the Brigade and repeats the story of the incident and says that a vehicle has been sent and will arrive in 20 minutes.Back to Awarta9:30 a.m.The roadblock is still closed. There are 27 lorries waiting in the direction of Nablus. We telephone the Brigade again – they are sending someone now.10:14 a.m.We have now spoken to e-v-e-r-y-o-n-e, and e-v-e-r-y-o-n-e promises us that soldiers will arrive at any moment.10:15 a.m.Finally… the soldiers arrive.They start to get lorries across.10:25 a.m.We leave Awarta.Huwwara roadblock10:30 a.m. 200 men and women wait to leave Nablus but the soldiers are bothered by where I am standing. The roadblock commander is asked to open a humanitarian lane. He doesn’t. There are 5 cars at the exit.>p>10:45 a.m.An elderly man gets a deep cut from the fence which is lying, together other equipment, beside the roadblock. The obvious question is why it is lying there and my, naive, assumption is that now the army will move it away. The wound bleeds and it obviously is painful and there is no medical aid at the roadblock. A., from the DCO calls for medical help. A humanitarian lane has still not been opened and there are many people. There are seven cars at the exit. An ambulance arrives with a doctor.11:00 a.m.We leave Huwwara.At Za’atra there are 30 cars from the direction of Nablus.
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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