‘Awarta, Beit Furik, Huwwara, Za’tara (Tapuah), יום ב’ 2.2.09, בוקר
Translation: Suzanne O.
Summary: There are a lot of army vehicles and the Border Police are carrying out inspections at various spots on the roads.
A driver is suspected of fleeing from the roadblock at Za'atra, apparently because of a misunderstanding.
Border Police soldiers perform a raid on the stallholders at Huwwara, as a routine act, this time without any violence, perhaps because we were present.
In spite of the easing of the need for permits for vehicles in Huwwara, the inspection of vehicles is very slow, which causes most people to prefer to cross on foot.
Marda: open. Zeita: closed.
A Military Police vehicle is parked at the entrance to Beita. When we were on our way back there were two MP jeeps parked in the area opposite the entrance.
At Borin/Yitzhar Junction there is a military vehicle. Soldiers check a taxi and the contents of its boot are on the ground.
Za'atra (Tapuach Junction)
7:10 – 7:30 a.m.
A bus from the west is being inspected. All the passengers wait outside.
There are 22 cars from the north (Nablus). 3 checkpoints are functioning. 20 minutes later there were 12 cars in the queue.
There is a police car in the area and the police are writing out tickets.
There is a lorry loaded with milk for the hospital in Ramallah. The driver is accused of crossing the white line. He contends that he by-passed the queue because of his load. His permit is out of date. He waits to be given a ticket.
A taxi driver has already been waiting for an hour. He didn't wait for his ID card to be returned after inspection because people were waiting for him somewhere and he was in a hurry to let them know they shouldn't wait. According to him he told the soldiers but they thought that he was running away. When he took his ID card they called the police to him.
When we returned at 10:50 a.m., we counted 12 cars from the direction of Nablus and 2 checkpoints were functioning; from the west there were 4 cars.
Beit Furiq
7:40 a.m.
There is a military jeep opposite the entrance to Itamar.
There are no queues. A taxi is being inspected quickly. After the taxi a private car and a taxi with no passengers are not inspected.
A taxi with passengers is inspected.
Awarta
7:45 a.m.
The roadblock is empty.
Huwwara
7:45 – 10:20 a.m.
At the vehicle entrance to Nablus there are no inspections.
There are 21 cars from the direction of Nablus. 2 checkpoints are functioning and an x-ray machine. At 9:30 a.m. there was also a sniffer dog.
The routine is that passengers alight from cars at a distance of a few metres from the checkpoint. When the (drawn out) vehicle inspection is complete the passengers raise jackets, turn around, and return to the vehicle. The inspection is slow in spite of the fact that there are 6 soldiers there. We monitored 17 cars in 20 minutes, i.e. the waiting time was about 25 minutes.
9:25 a.m.
When we returned to the vehicle checkpoint we saw a large lorry unloading concrete partitions 'for the protection of the soldiers'.
9:30 a.m.
The inspections ceased at one checkpoint. A dog inspected at the second checkpoint, this is a long drawn out inspection, so the queue did not move for 5 minutes.
Inspection time: 3 cars in 10 minutes, afterwards 5 cars in 10 minutes and later 11 cars in 10 minutes – in both checkpoints together. A total of 19 vehicles in half an hour. We are unable to see the number of cars in the queue, estimated waiting time is about half an hour.
We didn't see a taxi or a bus – apparently it is not worth it for such a long wait, therefore there is no need for a special permit – the very fact of the roadblock and the way it is run makes the crossing by car unbearable.
When we left we counted (parked on the road leading up to the settlement) 14 cars in the queue.
The pedestrian crossing: there are very few people in the queue; it is not clear why. We are told that there are studies taking place at the university. All the time we were there there were no more than 15 people in the two queues as far as we could see (not the humanitarian queue).
Nettie counted 51 people leaving the roadblock in 10 minutes.
The waiting time was about 10 minutes.
We counted 34 men being inspected in the two queues in 20 minutes. We could not monitor what was happening behind the humanitarian queue from where we stood.
Anyone coming with a bag or some parcels has to open each one, put the clothes on the small counter under the window next to the Military Police kiosk. This is complicated, there is not much room, and humiliating, everything is on view publicly.
Today the inspections are carried out quietly; the Military Policewomen do not scream and shout.
10:05 a.m.
There are 8 men in the queue. There is a heavier flow of people into Nablus.
10:15 a.m.
The roadblock is empty.
9:10 a.m. The car park
When we arrived this morning we saw 3 stalls selling tea and coffee, one selling bagels and one selling snacks, as well as a few peddlers holding trays of sweets.
At 9:10 a.m. a Border Police jeep arrived. The soldiers ordered the stallholders to leave immediately and, indeed, 5 minutes later they had all disappeared.
We telephoned Zaharan and complained, as individuals spending time at the roadblock, that we were prevented from buying a cup of coffee and for the drivers who spend much more time here than we do, and in the name of the stallholders who make a meagre living here for their families. (There are also no toilets.)
He, Zaharan, claimed that
- a) the roadblock will be closed within two months anyway, just as soon as all the heavy equipment is evacuated from Gaza (even if this is the case, what difference does it make if the stallholders make a living meantime?).
- b) When it is vacated – taxi drivers and stallholders will shoot at the soldiers (as if there is a shortage of Palestinians who would be happy to shoot at the soldiers, if they only could).
- c) Finally, the ultimate claim, the rubbish. And what does the rest of the area look like? According to him there are 3 cleaners (I have never seen one of them doing anything). And the final claim: it's not my decision; it's the Battalion Commander's decision. We finished with a stupid expression, "we'll see".
Re: the rubbish: one of the stallholders collected all the rubbish around him into bags, but we didn't see any rubbish bins in the area.
When we returned to the car park at 10:00 a.m., the jeep had left and all the stalls were back again.
A week ago the soldiers were not so gentle (because of us?) – they overturned the stalls and trod on the goods.
From a distance we saw a group of officers who had come to check something at the roadblock.
At the roundabout at Madison Way there are two police cars. There is a thorough search of a private vehicle going on.
On the road to Kif Alharat, near the pill box, soldiers are inspecting a car.
'Awarta
See all reports for this place-
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.
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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
See all reports for this place-
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)
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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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