‘Awarta, Beit Furik, Huwwara, Za’tara (Tapuah), Thu 17.6.10, Morning
ranslation: Suzanne O.
The summer has arrived, the fields of grain have been harvested and only the fields of corn stand out with their fresh green colour.
6:30 a.m.
Sha'ar Shomron east is freely open and no one is inspected.
We came to a kind of roadblock at the entrance to Zeita and to Jemayn and excitedly we drove up the track leading up to the villages, for a while we drove around the beaten up track between the dusty olive trees and then turned back.
Za'atra/Tapuach
6:55 a.m.
There is a long queue of about 40 cars from the direction of Huwwara, two checkpoints are open.
In Huwwara town a military vehicle is looking for a convenient place to park and watch.
Borin/Yitzhar
There are no military vehicles.
Beit Furiq
7:25 a.m.
There is not a soul at the roadblock. The iron barrier is open freely and no one guards it. The traffic flows to and from the town. We stood under the lookout tower for a few minutes until the soldier above waved us to turn around and vacate the area.
Awarta
7:35 a.m.
The roadblock is back in its usual place. The traffic is light. A soldier fears starting a conversation with us: "You will write later that I said something and I will be put into prison"!!
Huwwara
7:45 a.m.
The car park is completely empty. The police appear to have completed their campaign of impounding cars.
The traffic to and from the town flows with no problems. There are not many cars in either direction. There was neither a dog handler nor a DCO representative present.
We asked the roadblock commander about the incident which caused the closing of the roadblock and the opening of the Madison Way to Palestinian vehicles and he said that no such thing could have happened.
Light lorries trying to enter the town are inspected by the guard position near the car park.
A huge petrol container is sent back to cross via Awarta.
Borin/Yitzhar
Still empty
We stopped in the town to get supplies and a Border Police vehicle stopped by us to enquire anxiously whether we were alright. It accompanied us with the warning: "They thrown stones here at cars like yours".
Za'atra/Tapuach
We expected to see the queue which we had seen in the morning but meanwhile it had disappeared and there was no need for us to intervene.
'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-RamatiSep-10-2026Awarta. Outpost below the town
-
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)
.
Ronit Dahan-RamatiAug-24-2026Huwara: The school on the outskirts of town and an outpost hidden among the trees
-
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.
Ronit Dahan-RamatiJun-9-2026Za'atara (Tapuach Junction). The Temple Flag Above a Station
-
