Za’atara Burin Jnc. Huwwara
Za’atra Crossroads of Burin Huwwara Beit Furik, Wednesday 2.8.2006PMObservers: Yehudiet K. Devorkah A. (reporting)Natanya translating. A quiet shift with no detainees. The checking is careful, detailed and slow. The Palestiians are asked to take everything out and each item is checked. There is a long waiting period. When we arrived people complained. Some said 2-3 hours and some 4-5. The soldiers say that one of the reasons for this discrepancy is that some of the men push to the line and so others wait longer, those who dare not oppose them. The commander pointed out some of those who had been pushed back and were waiting for a long time. Also in the humanitarian line one of the older men managed to bypass the line and said that it was not fair that there were two lines for women and only one for men.Staff sergeant G. is polite and to the point with the Palestinians and this probably accounts for the fact that the soldiers are less vulgar than we have seen on other shifts.15.00 Crossroads of Za’atara 2 cars to the south.15.10 Crossroads of Burin. 30 cars most of them with workers who are on their way to the south.15.15 Huwarra. About 30 people in the hut. 2 checking areas and a humanitarian line. Women who had passed in this line had to wait for their husbands.A detainee enters the enclosure and this of his own volition. He had tried to bypass others in the line and when the soldiers sent him back said he preferred to be detained. About an hour later then the line had shortened he decided to rejoin it. 16.00 -The pedestrian line began to move faster. The representative of the District commissioner’s office approached us and explained to us and the Palestinians the rules which guided them in their activities. He was communicative, involved in what was happening and very efficient….more so than any other DCO representative whom we have seen lately.16.15 -At Beit Furik very few people and two cars. Two young women approach us and complained that they are not allowed to cross the checkpoint in their car. They say that in the morning there are more problems than in the afternoon.17.00 Huwarra. The lines are shortening and about 40 people are waiting in the hut.17.20 Crossroads of Burin. 40 cars in a southerly direction.Crossroads of Za’atra 4 car from the north.
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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