Huwwara
Huwwara, 18.7 Tuesday, AMObservers: Yael P., Rahel A. (reporting)Translation: Hanna K.Surprisingly, amidst all the commoption around us, and while the war rages, this was one of the quietest shifts I can remember.At the Tapuah CP there was a long queue of about 45 cars coming from Huwwara. Near the Yitzhar junction, at the temporary/permanent CP, there were a few cars.At the Huwwara CP there were, relatively very few people leaving town. This definitely is not a usual situation in this holiday period.Probably under the influence of the battles taking place in Nablus, the CP commander and soldiers behave in a reasonable manner. An attempt by one soldier to behave abusively towards a man in whose ID it is written that he is 35 years old and to maintain that as a result he is not entitled to leave, was thwarted by the CP commander and the DCO representative (so it seems). They practically clashed with the soldier in the matter, and enabled the man to pass.In any case the restrictions for people aged up to 35 are news to us. Except for this there were no special events. Thus is was also at Beit Furik, few people passing in both directions.We went to see the “back to back” passage of trucks. There too it was calm. We conducted a conversation with soldiers who wished to understand what we were doing, asking the usual questions (what are your sons doint) but were prepared to listen and, as it seems, to understand.
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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