‘Awarta, Beit Furik, Za’tara (Tapuah), Mon 8.3.10, Morning
Translator: Charles K.
07:35 Zeita
The entrance is still blocked by mounds of earth.
07:42 Za’tara junction
Three cars detained in the parking lot. According to the passengers who had to get out and stand off to the side, they were detained randomly. A dog handler with a cocker spaniel is inspecting the vehicles. The passengers are annoyed that the dog is in their car. After the inspection they get back in and drive off. A truck that arrived, according to the driver, from Hebron, has also been detained.
Six cars coming from the north are waiting at the junction. Cars cross one after the other, occasionally one is detained for a few seconds. No cars from the other directions.
08:10 Huwwara checkpoint
Five cars waiting at the exit from Nablus. A soldier, and then the checkpoint commander, asked us to stand behind the position at the entrance to the parking lot. We tried to argue, but eventually moved.
08:25 An army Hummer is parked at the entrance to Itamar.
Beit Furik checkpoint
Not manned.
No checkpoint at the turn to the road leading to Beit Furik and Beit Jan.
Awwarta checkpoint
Empty.
On the way back we had arranged to pick up a resident of Huwwara whose son had been run over by a settler's car three years ago, when he was 13, and has been hospitalized since then in the Re’ut nursing home in Tel Aviv. He hasn’t visited him in a month. He has an entry permit to Israel. At 10:00 we reached the Shomron gate. Unlike in the past, we were stopped and asked who we were. Of course, when they saw that there was a Palestinian with us we were asked to pull over to the side. The head security guard arrived and then the checkpoint commander (both of them civilians, like the other security personnel).
The Palestinian was taken for a security check. We were told that only Israelis can go through this gate, and that we have to take him to the Eyal crossing or to Irtah. We explained that we didn’t know. They went to consult and finally made an exception and let him go through. In the past he went via Qalandia and Jerusalem, a trip that took four hours.
'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.
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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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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.
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