Atara, Beit Furik, Huwwara, Za’tara (Tapuah), יום ש’ 23.8.08, בוקר
Translation: Suzanne O.
We left Jerusalem at 6:00 a.m. and returned at 1:00 p.m.
Huwwara
There are a lot of pedestrians going into and out of Nablus. It takes about an hour to cross the roadblock. Three checkpoints, plus a humanitarian one, are open. At one of the checkpoints the soldiers are mainly busy chatting to one another. As soon as we arrived and crossed the coloured line by a few steps the soldiers tried to move us to our ‘proper place'. We refused. An officer appeared, the roadblock commander, and tried, pleasantly we must say, to convince us of the justice of the demand. We remained unconvinced and they didn't bother us any further. The DCO representative was hostile. One detainee; a doctor from Refidia Hospital in Nablus is detained because ‘his number came up'. The man asked us to help, telling us that this is his fate every time he crosses the roadblock. A second detainee, a youth of about 17, is detained because of strange behaviour. There were a lot of photos on his mobile phone showing him with weapons as well as photos of piles of weapons without him. The commander showed us the photos and we wondered about the meaning of it. Did the youth want to be caught? Were they weapons or toys? The case was not clear. The soldiers brought water to the detainees on their own initiative without any intervention from us.
A man returning from dialysis treatment came over to us and told us how difficult it is for him to cross the roadblock three times a week. Today the humanitarian queue moved quickly, but it's not always like that. We have had quite a few such appeals in the past and we have not been able to be of help. We assume that this time too, we will not be of much help to the sick man.
A few pearls:
A man wearing fashionable sunglasses appears; the soldier is impressed by the glasses and addresses the man: "sir, pilot, please come here".
A young man appears with a very curly hairdo; the soldier feels his head and asks: "what's going on, are you a girl?"
The dog handler is at work at the southern part of the car crossing. There are few cars in the queue and the crossing is comparatively rapid. Why? Where have all the cars gone? It's not clear. There is no queue at the entrance to Nablus.
The war against smoking continues – on the other side of the turnstiles as well.
The female soldiers' behaviour is aggressive. We complained about it to the commander and he admitted that it bothers him too and he spends time trying to improve their behaviour. In our opinion the best way would be to close the roadblock once and for all. However, in the light of the building works being carried out it does not appear that our simple and logical suggestion will be taken up in the near future…
Beit Furiq
The roadblock is almost empty. The few cars cross without hold-ups, and so do the few pedestrians.
We left after a short while and returned to Huwwara.
'Atara
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'Atara Checkpoint
Situated at the northern entrance to Ramallah from Route 465, called also Bir Zeit Checkpoint. Nowadays only remains of what used to be a busy checkpoint remain, a pillbox and concrete blocks.
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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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Shoshi AnbarMay-18-2025Huwara: The old houses in Area C
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Za'tara (Tapuah)
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Za'tara (Tapuah) Za'tara is an internal checkpoint in the heart of the West Bank, at the intersection of Road 60 and Road 505 (Trans-Samaria), east of the Tapuah settlement. This checkpoint is the "border" marked by the IDF between the north and south of the West Bank, in accordance with the policy of separation between the two parts of the West Bank that has been in place since December 2005. At the Za'tara checkpoint, there are separate routes for Israelis and Palestinians. In the route for Israelis, there are no inspections and the route for Palestinians inspects. The queue lengthens and shortens suits. The checkpoint is open 24 hours a day. The checkpoint is partially staffed and the people who pass through it are checked at random.
Shoshi AnbarSep-27-2023Za'atra (Tapuah Intersection). Signs
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