Awarta, Beit Furik, Burin (Yitzhar), Huwwara, Za’tara (Tapuah), Thu 15.5.08, Afternoon
Translator: Charles K.
12:57 Marda – The southwest gate is open! The northern gate – open.
Zeita – The entrance is closed.
13:03 Za'tara/Tapuach checkpoint –
We stop next to a minibus coming from the west that has already been detained for 15 minutes. He's allowed to continue without his passenger: she was born in Kuwait, married a Palestinian, her daughter is studying at the university in Nablus. She hasn't left her village for 10 years because her passport had expired. A few days ago she received a temporary permit, until she gets an ID card as part of a quota approved for a number of foreign residents who've been living here for many years with no documents. Despite her temporary permit, she wasn't allowed to pass through. We informed K. at the office center.
13:22 Eight vehicles on line from the west, one lane open, 30 vehicles waiting from the north, three lanes are open. Strict examination of all IDs against the short list, the inside of the vehicle and the luggage compartment.
13:27 All the vehicles are let through without being checked.
14:05 The vehicles are being checked again – we count 33 cars coming from the north (from Nablus/Huwwara).
14:15 No one is on duty at the Burin/Yizhar checkpoints.
14:27 Huwwara checkpoint –
The confinement area is empty. Three lanes open for males, who remove their belts and shoes that have metal in them. They present IDs to be checked as well as any items they're carrying. There isn't any x-ray machine on site so the checking takes longer. The covered area is full of people waiting, most of them students going home for the weekend. There's a separate, relatively faster line for women, children and older men off to one side. The checkpoint commander, P., T. from the DCO. According to the representatives of the ecumenical church (who are located on the other side of the checkpoint), eleven vehicles are on line coming from Nablus. At the vehicle entry point to Nablus there's a line only occasionally, and then very briefly.
14:45 The woman from Za'tara who had been detained tells Daphna that she's been allowed to continue. Later we hear (from the police) about someone else who's been detained, also because he has a temporary permit until he receives the longed-for ID card.
15:25 Beit Furik CP-
Little traffic. We enter and move toward the place we usually stood before the "white line" was introduced. The checkpoint commander closes the checkpoint. His soldiers put spiked barriers in both vehicle lanes. When we return to the white line he opens the checkpoint.
Representatives of the ecumenical church report that two young men were confined at Huwwara because they tried to bypass the checkpoint.
15:45 – Another detainee – he went through the line off to one side and helped a woman, but (according to the checkpoint commander) tried to use this in order to go through the "express" lane.
16:15 Awarta – no line.
16:24 Huwwara checkpoint (on our return from Beit Furik).
M., the representative of the ecumenical church, reports that detainees asked for water, were given some foul liquid, started to drink and spat it out. She asked the DCO representative for permission to bring water by herself, received permission, bought a bottle of water and brought it to them.
17:35 Za'tara –
40 vehicles waiting from the north, two lanes open. We asked U. at the center, to open another lane. He said he'd look into it.
Three vehicles coming from the west are waiting to be checked.
17:42 Zeita – closed; Marda gate is open.
17:42 Dafna calls one of the detainees; all three were released (at 17:33)
17:50 On the right, an army tent, soldiers inside.
17:55 Shomron gate –
A detainee. Caught in Israel without an entry permit. Detained since 10:00 at the police station and brought here 30 minutes ago. He'll get his ID card at the Azzun Atama checkpoint. He rides there with us, but not before a patrol car arrives with four more detainees who are ordered to get to the Azzun Atama checkpoint on foot in order to retrieve their ID cards.
Cf. the report on Azzun Atma from 15.5.08, written by Dafna B.
'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-15-2008Awarta: 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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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 AkfaMay-15-2008Huwara: traffic jam on the main road
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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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