Huwwara Beit Furik
Huwwara Beit Furik, Sunday, 10.6.07 amObservers: Edna L, Yael B (reporting)07:45 Za’atara JunctionSeven cars from the east, 15 (mostly taxis) and two buses from the north.08:00 Beit Furik CheckpointFour cars. Thin stream of pedestrians.08:30 Huwwara CheckpointIn the covered line we estimate 40 people waiting.Waiting time, according to testimony of passers by, 30-40 minutes.The people coming out and passing us (we stand at a distance, behind the new “white line”), are all furious. One man says “Till when?” Another mutters a subdued curse. How can it be otherwise?09:00 – a young man is set to put himself in the isolation room. In answer to our question as to why the punishment, the checkpoint commander replied that the youngster had set up a stand (for beigels) on the path to the checkpoint, and kept doing so though he had been warned three times that it was forbidden. Therefore he decided to punish the young man by holding him for an hour. We wonder why he cares about the erection of a stand, and he replies “it interferes with the running of the checkpoint… holds up the line of people on their way to the checkpoint… allows observation of happenings at the checkpoint… etc.” BS!The young man is released after half an hour.A short random chat with two soldiers (despite their orders prohibiting talking to us): one of them, D., talks of frustration – since he enlisted in the paratroops and didn’t think for a moment that this was what awaited him – service at a checkpoint.The second contended that all the Palestinians are on their way to terror strikes, to be terrorists and, in general “they are animals, they are evil.”10:30 Yitzhar JunctionRolling checkpoint (Border Police Hummer). Eight cars waiting.10:45 – by the felafel stand at Huwarra, a Palestinian comes over and tells us the following story: he is employed by a candy merchant and drives a supply vehicle. At Awarta Checkpoint, a soldier (described as big bodied) asked him for two chocolate bars. The driver gave, then the soldier asked for two more. This time he refused. The soldier ordered him to crouch down. The young man, Hashem Agbar, told him that he was about to phone the DCO, and then he was released to go on his way. Hashem said that the same soldier, on Sunday, “asked” for Red Bull XL. He added that when he usually offers the soldiers a candy they refuse and say that it is forbidden.We drive to Awarta and speak to the commander, who knew nothing about the event. We told him the story. The soldier presently sitting in the checking hut says that he knows of no such case with a candy merchant. Seems to us that he fits Hashem’s description of heavy bodied…10:45 Za’atara JunctionTenb cars from the direction of Nablus, five from the west.
Beit Furik checkpoint
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One of the three internal checkpoints that closed on the city of Nablus - Beit Furik to the east, Hawara to the south, Beit Iba to the west. The checkpoint is located at the junction of Roads 557 (an apartheid road that was forbidden for Palestinians), leading to the Itamar and Alon Morea settlements and Road 5487. The checkpoint was established in 2001 for pedestrians and vehicles; The opening hours were short and the transition was slow and very problematic.Allegedly, the checkpoint is intended to monitor the movement to and from Nablus of the residents of Beit Furik and Beit Dajan, being the only opening outside their villages. Since May 2009 the checkpoint is open 24 hours a day, the military presence is limited, vehicles can pass through it without inspections, except for random inspections. (Updated April 2010)
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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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Ronit Dahan-RamatiAug-24-2026Huwara: The school on the outskirts of town and an outpost hidden among the trees
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