Awarta, Beit Furik, Huwwara, Za’tara (Tapuah), Wed 7.11.07, Morning
Translation: Suzanne O.
At the entrance to Zeita there is a barrier and a Hammer jeep with soldiers at the side of the road.
Za'atra Junction – Tapuach
7:45 a.m.
There are never ending queues from the direction of Huwwara, in the region of 50 cars. The inspection of each car takes 3 – 4 minutes, but from the moment a car arrives at the roadblock until it leaves it takes about 30 – 40 minutes.
Huwwara
8:30 a.m.
The three turnstiles are working. The traffic flows.
Beit Furiq
9:30 a.m.
The traffic of pedestrians and cars is light. There is a new commander from the Givati Brigade, he came to the roadblock yesterday. He reported that he has been at the roadblock for 16 hours straight. A detainee who was caught along the fence was brought in by the patrol 20 minutes before we arrived, "apparently he went to pick olives where he shouldn't". The man looks to be in his 50's or 60's. We understood from the commander that he would be punished for six hours, when we asked whether it is permitted to hold someone for more than three hours; the roadblock commander informed us that with a special permit they can hold someone for six hours.
10:00 a.m.
Back to Huwwara, no change.
Three occupation stories:
A young man, very thin and pale, from one of the buses which was stopped at Za'atra, came over to us. He showed us an appointment for Ichilov Hospital at 11:00 a.m. The time was 8:00 a.m., he had already been through two roadblocks, and he is not sure how many more there are on the way. He has to get to Ramallah to get a permit from the Authority for his hospital appointment and to get to Ichilov by 11:00 a.m. It was simple to work out that he is not going to get to Ichilov today.
At Za'atra Junction again, the queue of cars was unbearable, a minibus driver taking teachers from Nablus to Ramallah was in a hurry to get the teachers to their destination and they were already late because of the roadblocks. He drove along the Jewish road and approached the soldiers. Behind him on the road was a Hammer jeep containing an NCO – a regular soldier. The soldier alighted from the jeep, ran, with his weapon at the ready, right up to the driver's seat, opened the driver's door, and pointed it at him while screaming salacious curses. He took away the driver's I.D. card and sent him to the end of the queue.
Huwwara – a man of about 50 approached us asking for help. He is from Jenin. About 20 years ago he married an Israeli woman who lives in Tiberias with their two children . She is a nurse in Poria hospital. The father is not permitted to enter Israel and for many years has not visited his children at their home. He approached a lawyer for help who managed to get him a one-off permit to visit Israel, since then a number of years have passed and none of his attempts to get a permit have succeeded.
Huwwara – A driver comes over to us holding a piece of unofficial paper with Arabic handwriting on it. He reads what is written to us: that due to the need to enlarge the roadblock "private land belonging to residents near the roadblock will be appropriated".
Of course, we tried to help in the three cases and to do whatever we were able.
'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-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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