Awarta, Beit Furik, Beit Iba, Burin (Yitzhar), Huwwara, Jit, Shave Shomron, Za’tara (Tapuah), Thu 8.5.08, Morning
Translation: Suzanne O.
It is the Jewish Day of Independence – the Braslav sect is here, settlers from Chomesh are here and the town of Nablus is under siege.
6:12 a.m. At Sha'ar Shomron there is a tightly closed roadblock in the direction of the territories but there are no cars. At the entrance to Ariel, there is no traffic at all and there are no civilian police.
The entrance to Zeita is open, at the entrance to Marda the iron barrier is also closed.
Tapuach/Za'atra
6:30 a.m.
There are very few cars. The soldiers are air force reservists; they are not particularly polite. They do not explain to us why there are so few cars at the junction. The menorah position is staffed.
We cut short our stay in order to see what is going on at Huwwara in the light of the information about the closure of Beit Iba because the settlers have returned to Chomesh.
6:45 a.m.
Borin/Yitzhar roadblock is not staffed although a number of metres past the junction there is a spiked roadblock.
The soldiers glance into each car and wave it through.
Huwwara
There is no soldier at the settlers' hitchhiking station.
Very few pedestrians are waiting to leave the town but there is no crossing at all for cars.
A., the roadblock commander, explains that a group from the Braslav sect came back to Nablus during the night to pray at ‘Joseph's Tomb'. They are still there, armed and in two cars. The army wants to prevent them from breaking through the roadblock and getting away, for this reason no cars at all are permitted to leave the town.
Cars are permitted to enter the town with no difficulty.
7:00 a.m.
The DCO representative arrives; he is updated and promises us to deal quickly with matters.
Meanwhile the queue by the turnstiles grows, it appears that they are drivers fed up with trying to cross by vehicle. Some are sent to Mishkefet.
There are no detainees or prisoners. The market starts to wake up.
Awarta
7:20 a.m.
A bit before the junction there is an army vehicle and a spikes. Here too the army lie in ambush for the Braslav. An iron barrier blocks the exit from the town and a long line of lorries waits for the end of the Braslav incident. The ‘cafe' is still empty.
Beit Furiq
7:30 a.m.
As usual a long queue (16) await a wave. On the other hand, here vehicles are permitted to leave. (I don't even ask why – what do I understand about security?) Pedestrians cross without any hold ups.
Down the road leading to Beit Dejan we see a civilian car and two military vehicles beside it. We went over. The white car has been abandoned; it has no number plates and has settlers' stickers on it. According to the soldiers the Bratslav people left it, and they are waiting for them to come back to it. According to the soldiers the Bratslav people are being pursued in the area.
8:00 a.m.
On the way to Huwwara we see that the spikes have been removed and lorries are starting to leave Awarta. At Huwwara too cars are starting to cross. According to the officer the Braslav people are still in the area, apparently in the vicinity of Ein Bidan, however, an order from on high has been received to open the roadblock.
The DCO representative updates us saying that in spite of previous announcements the roadblock at Beit Iba is still open but appears to be about to close.
Since the morning shift there was cancelled we decided to go and see what is going on.
The spikes ahead of Borin are still spread out and holding up each car.
8:20 a.m.
The Borin and Yitzhar roadblocks are empty.
We went up to see if the removal of roadblocks had reached Sara village – of course it hadn't, a wall of earth still blocks the entrance to the village.
The preparations for Chomesh start at Jit Junction. Palestinians are not allowed to turn right. We tried to interview the ginger haired soldier at the junction but he was rude and refused to explain (on our way back he also called us whores).
Only residents are allowed into Shavei Shomron.
We are barred at the entrance to Beit Iba. Palestinians are permitted to continue on. The soldiers explain that the roadblock closed at 8 o'clock. Since then there have been no security forces there, therefore, we are not permitted to enter. A number of Palestinian vehicles are parked by the improvised roadblock in the hope that maybe the soldiers will agree to them crossing on to the main road. We turn to leave and the road fills up with forces from the army and the police. The soldiers have lists with licence numbers of vehicles permitted to go north.
At the side of the road: a car with yellow number plates and within an American journalist waiting for transport to the event. He was most surprised to hear that MachsomWatch members still support the removal of roadblocks and that we are not certain that the roadblock is the right answer to terrorist actions…
9:30 a.m.
We stopped at an inn to buy hot pitta (after all it is the barbeque holiday) and joined the stream of blue and white flags on the roads of Israel.
'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-08-2008Awarta: a long line of cars
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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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Beit Iba
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A perimeter checkpoint west of the city of Nablus. Operated from 2001 to 2009 as one of the four permanent checkpoints closing on Nablus: Beit Furik and Awarta to the east and Hawara to the south. A pedestrian-only checkpoint, where MachsomWatch volunteers were present daily for several hours in the morning and afternoon to document the thousands of Palestinians waiting for hours in long queues with no shelter in the heat or rain, to leave the district city for anywhere else in the West Bank. From March 2009, as part of the easing of the Palestinian movement in the West Bank, it was abolished, without a trace, and without any adverse change in the security situation.Neta EfroniJun-4-2014Beit-Iba checkpoint 22.04.04
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Burin (Yitzhar)
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Burin (Yitzhar)
This is a Palestinian village in the Nablus governorate, a little south of Nablus, on the main road passing through the West Bank. The settlements: Yitzhar and Har Bracha, settled in locations that surrounded the village, placed fences so it is cut off the main road.
There are around 4000 inhabitants. Most of them are engaged in agriculture and pasture, although many graduates of the two secondary schools continue to study at the university. Academic positions are hardly available, they find work as builderd, or leave for the Gulf countries.
The village lands were appropriated several times for the establishment of Israeli settlements and military bases, and as a result, Burin's land and water resources dwindled. lSince 1982, more than 2,000 dunams of village land have been declared "state land" and then transferred to Har Bracha settlement.
Over the past few years and more so since 2017, the villagers have been terrorized by the residents of Yitzhar and Har Bracha, the Givat Ronen outpost and others. Despite the close proximity of soldiers to an IDF base close to one of the village's schools, residents are suffering from numerous stone-throwing events, vehicle and fire arson, also reported in the press.
In 2023, the prevention of the olive harvest in the village plot was more violent than ever. Soldiers and settlers walked with drawn weapons between the houses of the village and demanded that people stop harvesting in the village itself and in the private plots outside the village. The settlers from Yitzhar and Giv'at Roned raided the olive groves and stole crops. 300 olive trees belonging to the residents of Burin, near Yitzhar, were uprooted. The loss of livelihood from the olives causes long-term economic damage to the farmers' families, bringing them to the point of starvation.
(updated for November 2023)
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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)
.Fathiya AkfaJun-4-2014Huwara: traffic jam on the main road
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Jit Junction
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The checkpoint is located on Route 60 near at the junction with Route 55, near the village of Jit. There was a checkpoint for vehicles passing between the north and south of the West Bank, which was abolished towards 2010. Since then, surprise checkpoints have been set up there from time to time with a police or Border Police vehicle, and vehicles and their passengers are inspected.
Yehudith LevinMay-14-201414.05.14 Jit junction צומת ג'ית
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Shave Shomron Checkpoint
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The checkpoint is on Route 60 (the main road to the northern West Bank), opposite settlement. Has been blocked to Palestinians since disengagement from Gaza and northern Samaria.
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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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