‘Awarta, Huwwara, Za’tara (Tapuah), Sun 1.3.09, Morning
Translation: Hanna K.
A cold raing day.
07:20 Za'tara: There are no cars at the western CP. There are 2 cars at the northern one.
07:25 Beita:
A Border Police jeep is parked opposite the village. While we stayed at Beita 7 cars and trucks left the village and were not stopped.
It is not clear whether the vehicles are not checked as a result of instructions from IDF or whether the cold and the rain deter the soldiers from coming down and checking them.
07:45 Huwwara:
A new company – Givaty. We park at the edge of the vehicles- CP. The CP commander approaches us and demands that we vacate the area, it is a military zone. We are allowed only to park on the other side of the concrete barrier, but there there is no parking space. The weather forecast promised scattered rains, but during our entire shift we have rain. Violent showers pour down incessantly and it is cold, very cold.
We stand next to the turnstile for people entering Nablus. There is quite a lively movement of people entering Nablus, but there is no delay at the turnstiles. A soldier in the CP structure wonders about our presence on the spot. This is the first time he hears about MachsomWatch. He is a resident of Yitzhar, and doesn't, naturally, accept our opinions. He imparts a "very important information" which, to our great shame we were weren't aware of before that "the Palestinians themselves are interested in the existence of the CPs".
There are about fifty people leaving Nablus.
A young man we watched stayed about 35 minutes at the CP.
There is pouring rain, and the water are, naturally collected, at a low area, exactly where the people leaving Nablus are being checked. The cleaner tries to fight the water with all his force, with the aid of the short wiper he is holding, without much success, and the people who are checked are forced to use acrobatics so that the contents of their bags which they have to empty at the wicket won't glide into the water.
Our acquaintance the commander comes up to us and demands that we leave the area. We explain that this is the spot where we are allowed to stand, we do not enter the CP and we do not disturb anybody. Our arguments do not convince him and he summons the police.
08:50 The commander appears again and hands us a phone says that an officer from the Ariel Police wishes to talk to us. Yael explains the policeman the situation and he asks politely whether we are prepared to leave the place. Yael repeat that we are allowed to stand here and that we do not disturb anybody, a fact which the CP commander cannot deny. The commander left us defeated and we hear him saying on the phone to the police officer that it is not pleasant for him that we look at his soldiers (in fact he is right, we too find it unpleasant to watch the actions of the occupation).
09:00 There is a long queue of vehicles coming from Nablus and a queue of vehicles entering Nablus, a fact which we cannot understand – after all the checking of people entering Nablus was annulled. A private vehicle is checked, a process which was begun before we arrived and lasted until 7 minutes after we arrived. Another 11 cars joined the queue in the meantime. And then the soldiers had a genial idea, they diverted the car that was checked to the side, and enabled the other cars to enter Nablus without being checked. The said car was checked another 2-3 minutes and then went on it's way.
09:20 The rain and the cold made us flee the CP.
Awarta:
There are no cars. We even do not see soldiers. Perhaps they are hiding in the shed from the heavy rain.
Beita: there is no Border Police jeep on the spot.
.
'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-RamatiJan-6-2026Awarta: Traffic jam on the way to Nablus
-
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
-