‘Awarta, Beit Furik, Huwwara, Za’tara (Tapuah), Mon 1.12.08, Morning
Summary:
Likelihood of canceling of Beth Furik and Awarta checkpoints.
Meaningless one-hour-detention of Palestinian at Beth Furik.
Fleeing of detainee at Huwwara. Use of detention booth for punishment and "education"
"Where is Salfit "?!
7.10 Marda: open at both gates.
Zeita: "permanently" closed: with the well known big concrete blocks.
- 7.15Za'tara (Tapu'ah): no special events
7.45 Beth Furik:
At the parking queue of about 10 cars that move quickly.
We note newly placed concrete blocks with metal gate, which gives the possibility of closing the road to Beth Furik.
Opposite, near the watchtower an excavator is preparing…. what?
From a taxi-driver we hear:"on Sunday the checkpoint will be removed and only a new larger watchtower will check passing cars. Otherwise free movement in and out of Nablus". Almost everyone seems pleased, only the taxi-drivers are not happy about this, as they loose out on this new arrangement.
Seeing the easy passing of the many pedestrians and cars – no checking of the ID's even – this indeed seems likely.
8.00 In the detantion pit a man who is just brought in by an army car with his eyes covered by a flannel strip and his hand tied in the back. We don't even try to inquire for what reason, knowing our questions will not been answered. After some half hour Rina brings him some water, (passing the "holy" white line! Yes,yes!!). This is a good reason for the soldiers to jump to their feet and photograph her.
9.00 The arrested man, -we hear from a passerby that he comes from Beth Furik- , is freed from his blindfold and plastic handcuffs after one useless hour and without any fuss is let free. He passes the checkpoint direction Nablus, but turns immediately right and walks several kilometers through the fields to Salem.
Far away we see two flocks of sheep pass the earthen ramp and walking towards Nablus without anyone paying attention, not like a few weeks ago.
Dear oh dear, what about our security??!!
As no one has much "work" we have the -nowadays unusual- opportunity to strike up a conversation with the soldiers. From this we learn something new. The soldiers believe that the brigade commandant ("machat") from Nablus is really supportive of MW's work and relies on our reports. So much so that on the basis thereof soldiers even received punishments of 28 days jail! As usually we are met with antagonism it was nice to be able to share thoughts with the soldiers in spite of our basic disagreements about our activities at the checkpoints.
9.30 Awarta: at the entrance: road-works. Also here we hear that the checkpoint will be closed down. The back to back parking area has no concrete blocks any longer and is almost deserted.
9.45 Huwwara:
3 Palestinians locked up in booth. Two, father and son, may leave – after spending there two hours, as we hear from "both sides": soldiers and Palestinians. This was a punishment for driving on "the apartheid-Madison-road".
The DCO A. had threatened he will not return the car-entrance permit, let the couple wait for another half hour and finally returned the permit.
DCO A. affirms that the checkpoints of Beth Furik and Awarta will be abolished and tells us there will be one for Tulkarm and Nablus on the Westside replacing Beth Iba.
Huwwara will be practically the only entrance to Nablus, with stricter checking with the help of sophisticated electronic apparatus. He adds that they expect it will lead to great disorder and much longer waiting hours than today.
There are between 30-50 pedestrians waiting in the two available lanes, but with one magnometer only, the other two being removed*. One "humanitarian" lane is open too but rather slow.
As quiet as one girl-soldier does the checking so rough, brash and loudly does the other. So much so that, after having suffered her treatment, a Palestinian mutters, deservedly, under his breath "sharmuta".
The noisy girl-soldier treats everyone that has to pass rudely, has to repeat what she orders three or four times as no one seems to understand her. Passing the magnometer never succeeds the first time, hopefully the second, but mostly only after the third time. Then, after gathering all his belongings and having passed a second "carrousel" the Palestinian can replace belt etc. A real "balancing act "! This has been so for years now.
Why should we make life easier for the Palestinian population by placing a table or shelf after the checking!!?
Today the detention-booth is for punishment:
10.05 A new detainee is send to the booth to keep "no.3" company. The last is released a few minutes later.
For what reason this new detention we did not know as at that moment the checkpoint-commandant had to argue with us about 30 cm passing the blue "white line", which really bothers him. The line is there where we are unable to see properly what is going on.
Later we understood that the soldiers hold him there as he had a police-report.
To their embarrassment he managed to flee the booth some time after being put there.
Around 10.40 again someone was send to the detention-booth, this time a taxi-driver who misbehaved at the Nablus side of the checkpoint.
Do the soldiers not know that the booth is not for punishment??
11.15 On our way back at za'tara a bus is being checked thoroughly: all passengers had to alight.
The brand new sign pointing to the south to Ariel and Salfit(!) on the new part of road 5 is a fake : no way leading to Salfit, so much so that one guard checking cars towards Ariel never even heard of Salfit, the other one explains how we can get there with a long detour (naturally!), via Barkan and onwards.
An army-hummer is investigating the passengers of a van in the fields of Azun Atmeh.
*not only the magnometers were removed, also the "humanitarian"station.
This removal created real discomfort both for soldiers and Palestinians!
Why was it not possible to wait until the new checkpoint is finished.
'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.
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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