Awarta, Beit Furik, Huwwara, Za’tara (Tapuah), יום א’ 25.5.08, בוקר
Translator: Suzanne O.
Za'atra
7:40 a.m.
There are five vehicles in the queue from the west.
At the northern roadblock there are two inspection lanes and a humanitarian one. The soldiers are Air Force reservists. The inspections are quick and there are no detainees.
Even a bus crosses without its passengers being required to alight.
A few people form a group a few metres north of the checkpoint. The reason: they are waiting for a vehicle with some vacant seats so that they can board it, seeing that they are not allowed to cross the roadblock on foot.
On our way to Huwwara we count 35 vehicles.
Beit Furiq
8:10 a.m.
There are 10 vehicles in the queue. There is a trickle of pedestrians.
Awarta
8:30 a.m.
There are 5 vehicles queuing to leave the village and 5 waiting at the entrance.
There is an estate car and two taxis carrying chicks. They have permits to cross but not at this roadblock. The estate car reloads the chicks onto a local vehicle (back to back), the taxi drivers come over to us. Y. the roadblock commander, advised them to contact the DCO. If they give permission he will let them cross. They phoned – they drew a blank. Yonny suggested that they cross via Huwwara and, at our request; he called the roadblock to permit them to cross there.
8:50 a.m.
The taxis left for Huwwara. Logic requires that they turn right and drive the few tens of metres between Awarta and Huwwara roadblock. However, as logic does not work where Palestinians are concerned they are forced to make a detour via the town of Huwwara.
Huwwara
9:00 a.m.
There are just a few pedestrians. There is one inspection lane and a humanitarian one. The x-ray machine is present. The traffic towards Nablus is quite heavy but no queues build up. The soldiers: ultra orthodox Nachal.
9:05 a.m.
The taxis with the chicks arrived and were permitted to cross.
An Israeli coach carrying Christians from the Ukraine wants to enter Nablus. They are refused. They had only decided to visit Nablus that morning and had not bothered to get the appropriate permits. The roadblock commander, E., suggests that they cross the roadblock on foot up to the taxi rank. The coach driver tells us that he has a few elderly women in the coach who will not be able to walk that far.
10:10 a.m.
The coach is still here, the driver appears to be trying to find a way to get a permit to enter Nablus.
We leave.
Za'atra
11:00 a.m.
There are ten vehicles.
'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-25-2008Awarta: 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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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-25-2008Huwara: 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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