Awarta, Beit Furik, Huwwara, Za’tara (Tapuah), יום ה’ 15.5.08, בוקר
Translation: Suzanne O.
In spite of Bush's visit the roadblocks seem to be working as usual and there is no alert.
Sha'ar Shomron
6:40 a.m.
There is no police roadblock.
7:00 a.m.
Marda – the road is open, Zeita is as usual, concrete bocks bar the entrance.
Tapuach
7:05 a.m.
A car loaded with machine oil is parked in the car park awaiting inspection by a dog handler. The driver and his friend stand by. There is a shortish queue of 15 cars from the direction of Huwwara which is moving relatively quickly. The soldiers at the roadblock are Air Force reservists. In the middle of the roadblock, behind the concrete blocks, stands a soldier with his weapon at the ready aimed downwards. After two minutes the dog handler completes her inspection and the taxi goes on its way. A minibus stops in the car park and about 20 people alight. They have come from Nablus via Huwwara, they had a long wait there too, and they are on their way to Hebron. The inspection takes 8 minutes (the dog got into the minibus and sniffed around it) and it goes on its way, but not before a soldier stands with their documents and calls out names for each one to come up and take his document, a humiliating scene which was difficult to watch.
When we arrived all three lanes were open and now the middle one has stopped. After a few minutes the middle lane opens and the right hand one stops. We find out that only two lanes are open, the third one is for ambulances and humanitarian cases.
Meanwhile from the direction of Ariel a queue of 11 cars has built up.
Yitzhar/Borin
7:36 a.m.
A military vehicle is parked at the junction but there is no roadblock and the road is open.
Huwwara
7:38 a.m.
The car park is quite full. Pedestrians cross into Nablus. At the exit from Nablus there are 10 people standing in the normal queue and about 10 are in the humanitarian queue. We were unable to see how many cars were leaving Nablus but the traffic of cars into Nablus is very light.
Awarta
8:30 a.m.
There are no cars at the roadblock; the car park is also empty.
Beit Furiq
8:35 a.m.
There are some 10 cars in the queue and many more cars are parked at the side of the road leaving the village, so it is difficult to know how many of them are waiting to enter Nablus. The drivers wait an hour at the roadblock; they say that this is how it has been for the past three days, because of Bush's visit. There is a short queue of pedestrians going into Nablus. At 9:05 a.m. soldiers come over to us and tell us that if we don't leave the area of the roadblock and stand at the concrete blocks, they will stop working. We move back (Rachel contacts Naomi Lalo who tells her that they are trying to get a letter of permission for our presence at the roadblock itself). As far as cars are concerned only one lane is working so cars cross one at a time in each direction – either into Nablus or out. From the direction of Nablus it appears that the cars are held up for quite a few minutes for inspection. When we leave there is a queue of some 20 cars on the road leaving the village.
Huwwara
9:25 a.m.
The car park is completely full. We managed to count 3 – 4 cars in the inspection line at the exit from Nablus. All three lanes are working although in two of them large plastic barriers have been put up. The soldiers tells me this does not mean that the lane is closed and, indeed, when an ambulance arrives to enter Nablus he moves the barrier and lets it through.
Tapuach
10:30 a.m.
There are some 10 cars in the queue from the direction of Huwwara. Three lanes are open. From the direction of Ariel there are some 13 cars in the queue.
Marda and Zeita
All is as it was on our way in.
'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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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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