Awarta, Beit Furik, Huwwara, Za’tara (Tapuah), Fri 21.3.08, Morning
Translation: Suzanne O.
Mother's Day in the territories – Id el Um – traffic of families is heavier than usual. Khamsin (hot wind from the desert).
Za'atra
Few cars, two checkpoints are open.
Beit Furiq
There are very few cars and very few people. When we arrive a sergeant approaches us and politely requests that we direct any questions to him and that we stand on the white line. Great. We have become very grateful when we are permitted to peer from the white line and are not threatened, and the roadblock is not closed…
Awarta
There is one lorry. Here too the soldiers do not bother to look at us, and that is good.
Huwwara
8:30 a.m.
There are no detainees in the cell. The work is carried out slowly but continuously. The magnometer sounds all the time and sends men back time and again to take off various garments.
Micky Fisher telephones to say that three detainees who are held at Huwwara have called her. They can see us although we cannot see them. They have been detained because they drove on the road from Awarta, which has been forbidden recently, and are being held for three hours. As Micky has been told by the DCO: "It is not a punishment, they are just being held". We find them waiting beside an empty lorry parked by the ‘humanitarian point'. They were told they would be held for three hours and that's what is happening. The phone calls we made to the DCO came up with the same result: "They were driving along a forbidden road"; "They will be held for three hours". We say: "But they didn't know it was forbidden"; "There are no signs up and they always drive along that road". And, just like salespeople who have been through a customer relations course, the DCO gives us a polite and neutralising reply: "We'll see what can be done"; "It is not punishment, they are just being held"; "Quite right, they are not a security risk (otherwise they would be arrested) but these are orders from the Brigade, and we are not allowed to disregard them"; "It's only for three hours…"; "We will look into the matter, perhaps we'll be able to help".
9:00 a.m.
And meanwhile a car has been found at the edge of the car park without any registration plates. The robot sapper is brought in. The car park is closed. The robot rolls up to the car and sniffs around, smashes its windows, looks around and leaves. The drivers say: "What does the army think, that a booby trapped car would be left in a car park used only by Palestinians?" The car is left wrecked after the robot's visit.
A young family arrives at the roadblock: a mother, a few young children and the husband. He is put into the cell. This happens to him several times a week. The soldiers admit it, and indeed, after five minutes, he is released. He goes through the magnometer again, which sounds all the time, mumbling: "Is this a life?"
Into the scene of the robot, the detainees, the khamsin, the children dressed up for the festival in their woollen clothes, a car appears. A white Fiat, registration number 8373663, which parks right in the roadblock. Five Yeshiva students jump out of it, waving large yellow flags, with a tape loudly playing the song "Messiah, messiah, messiah…" They dance and skip like goats in every direction, reaching all points of the roadblock. They rejoice and sing, and give out (perhaps) gifts of sweets to the soldiers. No one stops them, no one claims that they are ‘interfering with the work of the roadblock', no one closes the roadblock down, no one sends them back behind the white line… Orit tries to take photos and one of them yells at her: "Don't photograph us, I'll smash your camera". They cry: "Happy Festival to the soldiers but not to the Arabs!!!" We stand among the Palestinians who say nothing, only gape at them amazed. Indeed, Happy Festival.
11:00 a.m.
We phone the DCO again about the detainees: "They have already been held for two hours perhaps they have been taught enough of a lesson?" "We'll see what we can do", comes the polite answer which shuts us up. They get back to us ten minutes later with good news: "They will soon be released. Correct, they will be released soon.. in an hour's time. After they have waited the full three hours decreed by the Brigade." They really learned a lesson at Huwwara roadblock in the fantasizing and violent company of messianic, racist dancers, a robot which smashes up a parked car, under the boiling hot sun.
'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-RamatiJan-6-2026Awarta: Traffic jam on the way to Nablus
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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)
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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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