‘Awarta, ‘Azzun ‘Atma, Habla, Huwwara, Za’tara (Tapuah), Mon 4.6.12, Afternoon
Although the occupation’s injustices are less visible to travelers on the roads in this area of the West Bank, there’s still value to our presence here. We discovered that there are still soldiers who look at the web site and read the reports, and it’s important to them to behave humanely.
Habla
13:30
The gate is open. A soldier, two male and one female MPs at the gate. Light traffic – tractors, a truck and donkeys in both directions. Umar, from the plant nursery, waits at the gate for his children, joking with Hajaj, the MP at the gate. Hajaj has been serving here two years; he and Umar have become friends. Hajaj is acquainted by now with most of the people going through; he treats them politely, which helps ease the fact that a fence separates them from their lands.
Huwwara and Awarta
14:00
An armored military vehicle in the parking lot, but we don’t see soldiers at the checkpoint itself. If someone’s in the tower, he sees without being seen. Vehicles go through freely.
The signs posted on the fence are interesting:
“A conference of women fashion designers from the Shomron”
“Uri Ariel, don’t split the National Union party”
And the high point:
“The Cave of the Patriarchs – we bought it, we paid for it, it’s ours.”
We returned via Awarta. People we met told us that the settlers from Itamar haven’t been harassing them recently, except when they come down to the holy tomb in the center of the village. Lots of construction in Huwwara, shops are being renovated and it’s becoming a town.
The Za’tara checkpoint is open; no inspections.
Marda – the gate is open. Above, on the ridge, Ariel is expanding to the east.
Azzun Atma
16:00
When we reached the checkpoint there was a short line waiting to enter the village. Vehicles slowly arrive, the laborers returning from their jobs in the settlements pour out into the lengthening line. Some hold ID’s in their hands; others get them from someone they selected to handle them for the whole group. We stand on the side, ask where they work, about their difficulties entering and leaving the village. One of the soldiers approaches immediately, asks us to move away because it’s a military area. We insist that if civilians are going through here, it’s not a military area. We have a right to stand here and observe the checkpoint’s operation. He takes out a phone, threatens to call the police, but settles for calling the checkpoint commander. The checkpoint commander, a corporal, approaches us. He doesn’t threaten to call the police, but backs up his request with a story. Last week, he was told, two women gave a hundred shekel bill to the Palestinians to create a riot that they could photograph (the defamers’ imagination is boundless). So he asks us to move back, to the concrete barriers. The argument over where we’ll stand turns into a dialogue. In brief:
We tell him that people returning home from work aren’t supposed to wait at the checkpoint.
He: But they can reach Tel Aviv from here, so he has to insure that each person who exited here also returns.
We: If the fence were on the Green Line, there’d be no problem. But the settlements have made the village into a prison.
He: But we also give them jobs.
We: Instead of the land expropriated from them to build the settlements. Moreover, how can the village expand if it’s blocked on all sides?
The discussion concluded by us agreeing that he’s only doing his job, which he should do humanely, and with him agreeing that our presence isn’t bothering anyone.
It seems that, for the first time, he recognized the connection between the settlements and the role he’s playing. The result: he opens another lane, moves the people through quickly, politely and efficiently, and the line rapidly disappears. Riba went over to express her appreciation for his behavior.
'Awarta
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Awarta, an internal checkpoint in the heart of the West Bank, is located east of the Hawara checkpoint, at the junction of Roads 555 (which was forbidden for Palestinian traffic in this area) and the entrance road to Nablus. It was one of the four checkpoints that surrounded Nablus until 2009. We used to watch it at Huwwara shifts because it was the only one where goods could be transferred to and from Nablus, using the back-to-back method. It was operated by the army, from 06:00 to 20:00. Until 2009.
Ronit Dahan-RamatiMay-12-2025Awarta: Waiting to move towards Nablus
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'Azzun 'Atma
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'Azzun 'Atma
A Palestinian village of about 1,800 residents. The settlement of Sha'arei Tikva was established on its land adjacent to it, and the settlement of Oranit was established on its agricultural lands. By 2013, the separation fence had passed through the village and a checkpoint staffed by the army allowed the residents to cross from side to side. After building a massive wall surrounding the village and some of its agricultural lands, the residents went daily for five years to their lands that remained in the Seam Zone through the Oranit agricultural checkpoint (4). Since 2018 it has only opened during the olive harvest and the farmers have to pass daily at the Beit Amin / Abu Salman checkpoint (1447), about 3 kilometers north.From a report from March 24, 2021: "The farmers from Beit Amin and Azon Atma are happy that since February 21 the Oranit checkpoint .is going to be open 3 times a day, The farmers are really developing the place."
Report from July 14, 2024: "Ornit checkpoint is closed . The Beit Amin/Abu Salman agricultural checkpoint is closed (there is no contact with the military to check if it opens rarely), the Ezbat Jaloud checkpoint was opened once a day before the war.
Updated for July 2024
Apr-11-2019Azoun: The main entrance to village blocked now for several weeks
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Habla
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Habla CP (1393)
The Habla checkpoint (1393) was established on the lands of the residents of Qalqilya, on the short road that
connected it for centuries to the nearby town of Habla. The separation barrier intersects this road twice and cut off the residents of Qalqilya from their lands in the seam zone.(between the fence and the green line).
There is a passage under Road 55 that connects Qalqilya to the sabotage This agricultural barrier is used by the farmers and nursery owners established along Road 55 from the Green Line and on both sides of the kurkar road leading to the checkpoint.
This agricultural checkpoint serves the residents of Arab a-Ramadin al-Janoubi (detached from the West Bank), who pass through it to the West Bank and back to their homes. The opening hours (3 times a day) of this agricultural checkpoint are longer than usual, about an hour (recently shortened to 45 minutes), and are coordinated with the transportation hours of a-Ramadin children studying in the occupied in the West Bank.Ronit Dahan-RamatiApr-25-2025Habla Checkpoint: system of gates
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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)
.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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