‘Awarta, Beit Furik, Huwwara, Za’tara (Tapuah), Wed 3.12.08, Afternoon
Natanya translating.
14.30 Checkpoint of Za'tara.
30 cars waiting because the humanitarian centre said that the checking is more careful.
14.40 Huwwara.
One detainee. An elderly man who speaks Hebrew who had been wanted a year ago but not now. But every time that he goes through the checkpoint he is detained for a long time. Now he has been here for an hour.
The soldiers acted vulgarly towards him. "We told you to be quiet did we not? Put your cigarette out." I can not find out what his name or ID number is…the soldiers will not allow us to speak to him. After we phoned the centre at 15.00 the "wanted" man is freed. He comes out very angry and says to us "What are you doing here? Go home.:" The dogtrainer leaves. The x-ray device is working hard.
3 checking areas and a humanitarian line. The line is not long but the humanitarian is very long. The new checkpoint is being built. Israeli "efficiency" is developing and improving the occupation. Our friends meet an acquaintance from Nablus whom they had met at an Israeli Palestinian meeting a week previously at Akaba. A moment of happiness between the fences and pointed guns. The DCO representative, N., is not friendly. He tells the wanted man when he is freed that he must go to the DCO and ask for his name to be removed as being wanted.
15.40 Another friend of our guests arrives. It had taken him an hour to get through. We left them at Huwwara and go on to Beit Furik.
16.00 Awarta. A new bar on the road. A sign which says that the passage is for VIP.
16.15 Beit Furik.
The development of the occupation is obvious here as well. The cells which are being built around the Palestinians are changing. A new gate to the village of Beit Furik, next to the kiosk an yellow bar at the height of the cement. It seems that the checkpoint is being taken down and a new fence is around the building. Because of this the line of those leaving Beit Furik grows longer and longer and people do not go through. 10s of people wait. We cannot see the end of the cars' line.
The brigade commander chases us away rudely and Sharon goes to see the work which is being done. There are many soldiers and captains in the area. The brigade commander shouts at Sharon that she has to stand behind the white line. That he will arrest her and attack with violence. He adds a shove to his threats. "From my point of you you can complain. I will not answer questions.'
16.15 The tractor leaves. The women are freed. The men still wait. The truck leaves and the men too are freed and the checkpoint again starts to work. We leave at 16.20.
The kiosk owner says that from Sunday there will no longer be a checkpoint. Just the yellow bar at the entrance to the village and no checked. The bar will be open from 05.00 to 21.00. What will a woman in labour do at night. The kiosk also will go to the car park inside Nablus. Truly? One less checkpoint? Let us wait and see.
.
'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-RamatiApr-23-2026Awarta Checkpoint is empty
-
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)
.
Shoshi AnbarMay-18-2025Huwara: The old houses in Area C
-
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.
Shoshi AnbarSep-27-2023Za'atra (Tapuah Intersection). Signs
-