‘Awarta, Huwwara, Za’tara (Tapuah), Tue 9.6.09, Morning
Translation: Hanna K.
At Za’tara the third Intifada began and it is different than the preceding ones. When we arrived at the parking lot of the CP, we saw about seven Palestinians sitting on the sidewalk. They told us that they were laborers from Nablus, and that they set out in a taxi to work at Mes’ha. They were asked to alight from the car and a girl dog trainer, with a dog came to check the car.
The driver doesn’t allow a dog to enter his car. The Israel Defence Forces insist. So now they sit for about half an hour, they are late for work and are waiting for a solution. The driver suggested to dismantle the entire vehicle himself, just to prevent a car from entering it. The commander, young and decisive, knows that there is only one remedy for the bomb that the Palestinian carries in the taxi together with the workers: a dog.From time to time the commander arrives with one soldier or two. They take out everything from the luggage compartment, and from under the seats. They return everything. But the commander is not so innocent as all that. He know that the hidden bomb can be found only by the dog. And the Palestinian says: I have a religion, I have a belief. According to my belief it is not allowed to have a dog in the car.
What is amazing is that they did not put handcuffs on him. They bound his eyes and made a dog enter the vehicles, by hook and by crook.
After one hour’s wait the distributed the papers of the workers, and only the driver remained in the area, together with his insistence.
We thought that perhaps is embarrasses the commander to release him in our presence without the checking of the girl dog-trainer as long as we were there. After all, the capitulation of the army as opposed to the insistence of one man. We took the driver’s phone number and drove away, not before we expressed our admiration at his stand. Half an hour later we were told on the phone that he was released.
How long and in what way would the occupation persist if his stand would be adopted by more and more Palestinians?
At Huwwara the parking lot isn’t full. It seems that there are reliefs in the entrance and exit of cars to and from Nablus. There are no queues at the pedestrians’ barrier and the vehicles’ barrier is not crowded either.
Hamudi, the CP child who sells sweets comes to tell us that his elder brother, 15 years old, has been arrested. The army took him to an unknown destination. Hamudi’s mother too arrived at the CP. She was told that her son is at the Awarta DCO.
We took her to Awarta, naturally not via the short way that is allowed to Israelis only, but via the long way, through the village of Awarta. She entered, and luckily for her and for us, she emerged ten minutes later. One has to go to the Nablus DCO, inside Nablus, there she will be told what goes on with her son. We drove her and her worried face to the Nablus DCO. Don’t think for a minute that we took the short route that takes three minutes and is forbidden for Palestinians. Again we drove 20 minutes in the roundabout way. We let her get off the car at the Huwwara CP and she entered to look for her son.
'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-RamatiMay-12-2025Awarta: Waiting to move towards 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
-
Nablus DCO
See all reports for this place-
Nablus DCO
-
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
-
