‘Awarta, Beit Furik, Huwwara, Za’tara (Tapuah), Thu 30.4.09, Afternoon
Natanya translating.
12.55 Marda. Two gates are open. Zeita. The entrance is closed.
13.00 Za'tara.
Nothing from the West and one checking area. From the north (Nablus, Huwwara) 13 cars waiting to be checked.
13.10 Awarta. 3 cars waiting to be checked.
13.20 Beit Furik.
Soldiers man the checkpoint and cars pass with a random check. On the cement block the sign where we are to stand has been erased and now there is a slogan…N-Na.Naham and so on with which the settlers have been allowed to decorate the sign. We were not told as in previous days that we could not stand nearby. Another surprise was that a sign showing the direction of Beit Furik and Beit Dagan are written in Hebrew, English and Arabic. A photo is attached.
13.30 Huwwara.
We cannot see if anyone is detained. We did not meet anyone from the DCO. After 20 minutes a detainee came out of the isolation. He said that his ID had been taken from him and he had been put in the isolation because a soldier thought he had tried to be clever. He said not. He said that he was in his last year at the university in Nablus and was a volunteer in Unicef…he told children stories.
The checking in the line of the young men. They go to the x-ray, are used to taking off their belts because of the buckle, get to the blocked window and put their ID in the slot. If they have parcels they take everything out so that the soldier can see. After that they bend down as if they are bowing and take their ID out of the slot.
16 minutes in line, 3 lines, about 25 people wait in the shed. No pressure in the side line. The soldiers scream their orders into the loudspeaker in Arabic.
The car lane. No line at the entrance to Nablus. At the exit we could count 13 cars in two checking lanes, There is an x-ray machine for parcels. We did not see the dogtrainer or the dog.
We met A. the representative of Bestelem. We were told yesterday, Yom Ha'atzmaut that settlers from Bracha had thrown stones at the Palestinians at the checkpoint.
15.10 A border patrol jeep in the parking lot at the entrance to Beita.
15.15 Awarta.
16 cars wait at one checking area and one taxi was detained. While we werewalking toward the taxi the driver got his ID back. They had been delayed for 15 minutes maybe because of the checking of the passports of passengers. A soldier is doing exercise nearby. A photo attached.
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'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-RamatiMay-12-2025Awarta: Waiting to move towards 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)
.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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