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Awarta, Beit Furik, Huwwara, Za’tara (Tapuah), Mon 7.5.07, Afternoon

Observers: Nur B, Meirav A (reporting)
May-07-2007
| Afternoon
Perhaps it was the heat that suddenly descended in mid May, or an order from high up, but they tried to drive us away from every checkpoint that we visited.

13:30 – 14:10 Zaatra Checkpoint

Thin vehicular traffic in both directions. No restrictions on movement. One taxi detained from the north. The checkpoint commander says that "something about the driver’s documents raised suspicions," but was not willing to add more. One car is also detained from the west. The soldiers stopped him because there were no number plates. The owner argued that the car is new and that’s why there are no plates. The soldiers summoned the police.
At the checkpoint from the north, one passenger is removed and detained. At this stage the checkpoint commander is already not talking to us, so we have no details as to why he was detained. The soldiers lead him to the concrete partitions under the watchtower, and one soldier guards him. We film the happening and, in our honour, they bring him a chair. The soldier’s Hummer tries all the time to block our view of the detainee. When they don’t succeed, they move him into the inspection post. At least now he is sitting in the shade.
The checkpoint commander is busy all the time pushing us back from the checkpoint and preventing us from photographing. Suddenly a bunch of settler youths appear from the hitchhiking station and hit on us, trying to interfere with the photography and mouthing curses (Naziis, Arab lovers, terror supporters, ungrateful, etc…). The commander tells them that it’s not worth their while to be violent as they are likely to mess up, so they just cling to us, spewing their racist theories and trying to interfere with the photographs. Seems that only our presence interferes with the functioning of the soldiers, because the settlers circulate freely all over the checkpoint.

14:20 We enter Beita

The morning shift reported to us that there were again problems with the Border Police in the marketplace. The workers in the market tell us that at 06:00 soldiers appeared, closed the market, tipped over produce and did not let the market resume until 10:00. The vendors complain that in the heat of the day the produce remained in the sun and lost value, causing them severe losses.
14:25 – we stopped at a house where they had exercised the "grass widow" procedure in Huwarra. The flag is still there. The tenants tell us that the soldiers come almost every day, stay a few hours then leave.

14:55 Beit Furik

There is no electricity so all thechecks are done on the roadway. Everyone stands under the hot sun. There is a line of a few score people. When we arrive, the soldiers stop the check and inform us that we are interfering, and try to drive us out of the area of the checkpoint. They argue that since they have to protect us, they cannot work. There is a relatively large number of soldiers in addition to the ones on the checkpoint: there is a Hummer with soldiers who we will encounter later. We back off a little, and the checking resumes.

15:20 Awarta

A Transit driver complains that while he was being checked at the exit from Nablus, a Hummer drove up and hit him. We photograph the damage to his vehicle. While we are talking, the Hummer that was at Beit Furiq appears. The driver says that it is the one that hit him, and he points out the marks on the Hummer that match the damage to the Transit. We take the number of the vehicle. The soldiers deny vehemently, and are very aggressive to the driver, his passenger and us. Finally they tell the driver that he can complain to the DCO.

15:30 – 18:00 Huwwara Checkpoint

Thin traffic both ways. Almost no pedestrians or vehicles. There is a DCO representative, a checking machine and a dog minder who from time to time checks vehicles in the line exiting Nablus. When we arrive there are three checking stations: at a certain point one closes. At one of the remaining two, the checker is a woman soldier.
Our camera bothers the dog minder even though we are nowhere near her. The inspection of outgoing vehicles stops because she is not prepared to check until we promise not to photograph her. We do promise and she goes back to checking.
Again they try to drive us away from the checkpoint. A Military Police officer tells us that it is forbidden to stand in the huts (where the checking stations once were), because it interferes with the soldiers. We don’t listen to him and he threatens to call the police, but ultimately they do not come. At a certain point I cross the white line to call the DCO representative, and one of the soldiers jumps in front of me and pushes me violently back behind the line. Nur says to him that he is lucky that he didn’t do it to her, and he responds: "Don’t worry, I won’t touch you – I don’t want to dirty my hands."
A twenty year old Palestinian is standing in the checkpoint documenting events. He tells us that it is a private initiative, but to the soldiers he says he belongs to MachsomWatch. At some stage the DCO representative is uncomfortable with him standing there. The soldiers confiscate his notebook, and the DCO rep phones his superiors, saying that it is "before war intelligence." We tried to show him how idiotic that is, since there are no military secrets here – every Palestinian knows how the checkpoints works. But it does not help. The youngster is taken to isolation and transferred to the brigade. His notebook is translated by one of the soldiers, and the DCO rep argues that there are political statements in it: among the writings, there do not need to be checkpoints, and this area should be under the control of the Palestinian Authority, and all this troubles the DCO to the depth of his soul and proves to him that he was right – this boy represents a security threat. He was still in isolation when we left.[L]
  • '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.
      Awarta: a long line of cars
      Ronit Dahan-Ramati
      May-07-2007
      Awarta: a long line of cars
  • Beit Furik checkpoint

    See all reports for this place
    • 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)
  • 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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      Huwara: traffic jam on the main road
      Fathiya Akfa
      May-07-2007
      Huwara: traffic jam on the main road
  • Za'tara (Tapuah)

    See all reports for this place
    • 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.  
      זעתרא (צומת תפוח). שלטים
      Shoshi Anbar
      Sep-27-2023
      Za'atra (Tapuah Intersection). Signs
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