AM
HUWWARA, Saturday 15 May 2004 AM Observers: Amalia V., Dafna, Miri Z., Hannah B. color=red>In general there was brisk movement on both sides of the checkpoint. The atmosphere was very tense, possibly because this was the day of the Nakhba [Arabic for tragedy — many Palestinians see the day on which the State of Israel came into being, May 15 1948, as just that– a tragedy for their people]. Most soldiers behaved reasonably, except one who was aggressive and used violent language; the others did not, for the most part, follow his example. E., the representative of the District Coordinating Office (DCO) [the section of the army that deals with civilian matters] was very efficient and displayed positive judgment in exceptional cases. Many people were waiting to have their papers checked, with each such check taking up to an hour per person , but the checks were done by one designated soldier who did not take part in the general work of the checkpoint. Huwwara North In addition to what has just been described above, there were two women soldiers – one of whom behaved very aggressively towards both the Palestinians and the other woman soldier; she was also insolent to her commander. We encouraged her colleague to continue behaving pleasantly and not to give in to her aggressive behaviour. We think this should pay off long-term — for her own good and for the good of her functioning as a soldier.Some women and men underwent body searches. Notwithstanding the humiliation inherent in this sort of examination – it was done discretely and without any violence. Huwwara SouthThe situation was similar to Huwwara North. Two detainees were shackled in plastic handcuffs with their hands behind their backs. One was handcuffed so tightly that his hands changed colour and he was in great pain. Thanks to Amalia’s active intervention, the soldiers were persuaded to free him. We will lodge a complaint.JitOn our way to drop off half of our group at Beit Iba, we found several detainees at Jit junction. They said that they had been standing there for many hours – we found it difficult to establish just how long. After our appeal to the border policemen on the spot and a “friendly” chat about the state of the world, all were released. We succeeded in getting all of them into cars and they went on their way (only to be arrested, apparently, a couple of hundred metres further down the road at Beit Iba ).
Huwwara
See all reports for this place-
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)
.
Shoshi AnbarMay-18-2025Huwara: The old houses in Area C
-