‘Azzun ‘Atma, Huwwara, Fri 3.4.09, Morning
08:40 ‘Azzun ‘Atma
An elderly Palestinian man with a cart of eggs pulled by a donkey waited in front of the checkpoint. The soldiers refused to let him go through. Later we learned that the man sells the eggs on the road. We talked to a sergeant who was there, who explained that its possible to take through a limited quantity of vegetables or eggs, but not a “commercial” quantity. We asked what a “commercial” quantify was, and he replied: “A commercial quantity is what it is.”
A young man, a resident of ‘Azzun ‘Atma, who stood nearby and spoke Hebrew, said to us: “We live worse than dogs. It’s no surprise there are suicide bombers. In ‘Azzun ‘Atma it’s like being in jail. Closed in on all sides. A donkey has it better. The area on the other side of the fence also belongs to the ‘Azzun village; the soldier is talking nonsense.”
He also told us that the checkpoint closes at ten at night, and in case of emergency you have to call the police or the army, and two hours can pass until you get permission to go through. He also said: “They want people to suffer, to give up their land and leave. Who can live this way?” He told us that an army Hummer can enter any home, even though the village is a quiet one, maintaining good relations with the neighboring settlement of Sha’arei Tiqva. He thinks the Israelis want the village lands to expand Sha’arei Tiqva.
We suggest to the soldier that we bring the eggs to the other side in our car. The soldiers said that he has to bring them through in his cart. The egg seller continued to wait. We understood from the young man with whom we spoke that permits to go through are granted arbitrarily. Sometimes they wait a few hours until the soldier at the checkpoint lets them through.
Once again we talked to the soldier, suggesting that we take the eggs through. This time he claimed that it’s forbidden to bring merchandise from the territories into Israel, by order of the Ministry of Health, because there’s no supervision of eggs from Judea and Samaria, and “you can’t know what’s in the eggs.” The egg seller tried, without success, to convince the soldier to let him go through. Apparently, he’s usually permitted to do so. We asked the soldier how he thinks the egg seller will be able to make a living if he’s not allowed to go through. The soldier replied: “That’s not my concern. Maybe he can go through somewhere else.” A female soldier standing nearby said that there’s no other way to go through.
09:45 En route to Huwwara – A police car randomly stopped vehicles for inspection.
10:00 Huwwara. The soldier on duty asked us to move back and stand at the entrance, claiming that those are the rules. In response to our question he said that there aren’t any particular restrictions in effect. Traffic, as usual on Friday, was very light.
About 11 cars waited at the vehicle checkpoint, in two lanes. The soldiers were busy talking among themselves, and didn’t seem as if they were trying to inspect the cars quickly.
10:15 Yitzhar checkpoint.
A police car with five policemen stopped cars randomly. About three cars were stopped each time. They even inspected the interior of one of them. The passengers in one of the cars, who were being released when we arrived, reported had to wait an hour to be released. While we were there, the cars were released after a few minutes. One of the drives told us that they’re being treated better because we’re there.
'Azzun 'Atma
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'Azzun 'Atma
A Palestinian village of about 1,800 residents. The settlement of Sha'arei Tikva was established on its land adjacent to it, and the settlement of Oranit was established on its agricultural lands. By 2013, the separation fence had passed through the village and a checkpoint staffed by the army allowed the residents to cross from side to side. After building a massive wall surrounding the village and some of its agricultural lands, the residents went daily for five years to their lands that remained in the Seam Zone through the Oranit agricultural checkpoint (4). Since 2018 it has only opened during the olive harvest and the farmers have to pass daily at the Beit Amin / Abu Salman checkpoint (1447), about 3 kilometers north.From a report from March 24, 2021: "The farmers from Beit Amin and Azon Atma are happy that since February 21 the Oranit checkpoint .is going to be open 3 times a day, The farmers are really developing the place."
Report from July 14, 2024: "Ornit checkpoint is closed . The Beit Amin/Abu Salman agricultural checkpoint is closed (there is no contact with the military to check if it opens rarely), the Ezbat Jaloud checkpoint was opened once a day before the war.
Updated for July 2024
Apr-11-2019Azoun: The main entrance to village blocked now for several weeks
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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)
.Shoshi AnbarMay-18-2025Huwara: The old houses in Area C
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