Huwwara
Huwwara 24 July 2007 Watchers: Guest, Nurit W., Aharona M. (reporting)Translation: Suzanne O.A quiet, hot day… the scenery gets browner from day to day. 7:50 a.m.A bus has all its passengers taken off for inspection.There is a queue of about thirty cars in the direction of Ramallah and Jerusalem.Huwwara8:00 a.m.We get to the roadblock. The new car park is already filthy, full of papers and plastic bags flying around that no one even thinks of cleaning up… tens of taxis wait in a queue to pick up passengers. There are a number of innovations: a ‘station’ has been set up, a sign for Ramallah, Kalandya and Elkodes… no one stands by the sign, it appears to be for taxis only. However, there does seem to be some kind of order. In spite of the ban a number of cars have been set up as stalls and it is already possible to stock up with falafel, bagels and all kinds of coffee and cold drinks. Some of the ‘stalls’ are set up inside cars and some have put up sunshades over individual stalls. Nothing can come between basic human needs. There are quite a number of soldiers at the roadblock and everything is well organised. The traffic flows quietly and quite efficiently.Waves of pedestrians come through on their way to Nablus and a not inconsiderable number of them are young. There is almost no traffic from the direction of Nablus to Huwwara. A young man coming from the direction of Nablus tells us that he is on his way to a doctor in Ramallah and has been queuing at the Bida roadblock since 5:00 a.m.Today there are also two military photographers present. They wander around taking still photos and videos.The soldiers appear polite and let cars with permits through.Even the case of a special request to help an elderly woman cross outside of the regular pedestrian lane is met with a positive reply.8:45 a.m.A young man is put into the detainees’ room, his friends tell us that the photograph in his I.D. card has moved slightly…“Does one get arrested for that?” they ask. The soldiers check and at 9:00 a.m. he is released.>p>Beit Furiq9:30 a.m.Nurit goes to ask one of the soldiers something; he responds big eyed and close mouthed, when the commander goes over to her, she asks him how a dumb soldier can serve at a roadblock. The commander replies that he has forbidden his soldiers to talk to us…A young woman who is not allowed to cross claims that she crosses every day, on clarification it turns out that the medical team permit she has does not appear on the new poster.We called Chana Barag who replied that the woman has to go to the DCO.Back at Huwwara roadblock, there is no change.On the way back at Tapuach Junction there are almost no cars.
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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Jerusalem
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The places in East Jerusalem which are visited routinely by MachsomWatch women are Silwan and Sheikh Jarrah. During the month of Ramadan, also the Old City and its environs are monitored.
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