Huwwara Beit Furik
Huwwara Saturday 27.5.06 PMObservers: Smadar H. and Tal B. (reporting)Translation: Ruth F.Summery: Three people were detained for six hours at Za’atara, a cab driver had lost his id (it was given to another driver) and a body was placed inside the x-ray machine. 16:50 Za’atara crossroadsNo cars were there. Three detainees were help up since 11:00; they have asked for some water several times, and received it only half an hour before we came. There isn’t a spot of shade, and they have sat there for over six hours. We were told that they got of a taxi before getting to the cp, and wanted to pass it by foot. They were caught and were to be punished “until midnight”. There was a cab at the cp and the Palestinians told us that its driver had tried to pass through the special path with an injured man. The soldiers let the injured man go, but held the taxi driver for more then an hour and a half. We called the DCO, S. answered. She said she will make some inquires. When we asked who the cp commander was, we were told there was none. The detainees were released at 17:40.The cab driver said that he had been detained since two o’clock. He decided to speak to the cp commander. He found out that the soldiers had given his id to a different cab driver, who had already gone, and that the id of that driver was still at the cp. The taxi driver decided to wait at the cp. We went on. Yitzhar CP was unmanned.18:00Huwwara cp:The taxi driver came to Huwwara and said that they didn’t find his id. There were no detainees, no cars were in line in the exit from Nablus. There were about 20 people in line. An ambulance was there, it was transporting a body which was put in the x-ray machine.19:30Bait Furik:They closed the cp at seven. A man from Beit Dajan came and wanted to get out of Nablus. Two soldiers ran towards him. Eventually they let him pass back to Huwwara. Today’s orders: men between 15-30 can’t pass. Man came from Huwwara and said that his sister’s husband, that was waiting at the cp, had to get to Rammala because his wife was going through a Caesarean operation and he had to sign the permit. The cp commander hesitated for a while because the man was 27. Finally, after checking him, he decided to let the man pass. Smadar called the DCO about the cab driver who id was lost, and they told her to refer him to the DCO.
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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