Awarta, Huwwara, Za’tara (Tapuah), Sun 25.11.07, Morning
In preparation for Annapolis – especially strict inspections and long lines.
7.20 Zeita – concrete cubes are blocking the exit out of the village.
7.35 Za'tara – 17 vehicles heading east.
7.40 north-south checkpoint – 2 cars are detained. A lab technician who is in one of these cars was supposed to be at work by 7.30. Passengers say they have been waiting here for half an hour. Palestinians in the other cab are in a hurry to get to court. The cab driver tells us that drivers who were ahead of him have let him go past them, in order to be able to be in court on time, but the soldiers noticed him passing and detained him.
We approach the CP commander. He claims that the car in which the lab worker was riding was going through the humanitarian line, so it was detained. For how long? Until he decides otherwise, of course!
The other cab was detained, he said, because it was passing other cars. We told him that the driver passed the other cars after receiving their permission. The commander doesn't care. The driver hit the side barriers when he was driving past the other cars, and at any rate, there must be order at the check point. When will the driver be released? When he behaves.
The driver asked to speak to the officer, who agreed after a lot of persuasion from us. It was really depressing to watch the elderly driver begging to the officer who was young enough to be his son, and promising him to be a good boy from now on.
8.15 company commander I. arrives. We approach him, he is busy, but promises to talk to us as soon as he's free.
8.25 company commander I. comes to us. We tell him about the two detained cabs. He is attentive to our requests, and both cabs are allowed to move on within a few minutes.
8.35 on the way from Za'tara we count 94 vehicles waiting at the checkpoint, and about 20 more on their way towards it. We report to the humanitarian Center and ask them to intervene.
8.40 Itzhar: 15 cars from Tul-Karem are waiting, and 4 other cars from Huwwara.
8.45 Awarta: we arrived here following a report from Miki about a soldier who has hit a Palestinian. When we arrive, a soldier is running towards us. We introduced ourselves, and he allowed us to park in the parking lot. He denies that he or any other soldier at the checkpoint has hit any Palestinian. A.A. who was the source of the information, backed up from the story of hitting, but insists that a soldier has pushed the Palestinian.
9.15 a very long line of trucks from Awarta. A driver who has come here to unload the contents of his vehicle to be reloaded on another vehicle on the other side of the checkpoint (back to back) tells us with anger that he has been waiting in the checkpoint for two hours. We report the long line to the Humanitarian Center. trucks arriving on the side of the line are sent back to the end of the line.
9.35 we were called to Itzhar junction, we are told that some settlers are throwing stones at Palestinians there. When we arrive, the place is quiet. There are only a few cars. We ask a soldier what's happening, and he says there were no settlers here and no stones were thrown.
9.45 we return to Awarta. Captain H. from the DCO is here. We hear him give instructions to the soldiers. What we can get is that he is telling them that the trucks designated for the "back to back" procedure are not supposed to wait in the main line. We were not able to find out for sure, but the trucks that were sent to the end of the line before may have been "back to back" trucks, and the drivers knew that they were not supposed to wait in the main line, but the soldiers were not aware of the proper procedure for that and hence sent them back to the end of the line.
9.55 Huwwara: the place is quiet. 30-40 people in the carousels. 3 posts of X-Ray machines are active. No special events.
10.30 we left the checkpoint.
'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
-