Beit Furik, Huwwara, יום ה’ 10.7.08, בוקר
Translation: Suzanne O.
Sha'ar Shomron
6:50 a.m.
For a change there is no roadblock.
The extension of the Barkan industrial area continues.
Marda – the road is open. Zeita – as usual the road is closed by concrete blocks.
Za'atra/Tapuach
7:11 a.m.
The roadblock in the direction of Ariel is empty, from the direction of Huwwara we manage to count over 15 cars, and we cannot see the end of the queue. A detainee sits on the pavement near the soldiers. His name is Bashir, and he tells us that he doesn't know why he has been detained, it has been going on for months now and he has to wait for about 10 minutes at the roadblock. The roadblock commander is not prepared to tell us why he has detained Bashir. The young man comes from Jenin and he is on his way to Ramallah. Apparently his I.D. number is a ‘bingo'. After a few minutes Bashir is released and goes on his way. We notice a female soldier standing on the other side of the road behind a concrete block; she does not inspect the cars on their way to Huwwara, she just observed. The pace of the crossing is quite fast, but even so the queue does not get shorter. As we leave the roadblock we count 21 cars in the queue.
Huwwara
7:38
The car park is almost full. About 10 women and 10 men queue from the direction of Nablus for inspection. The flow of pedestrians into the town is relatively orderly. The soldiers serving in Huwwara are from the Nachal, the commander tells us that they are stationed here for another two weeks. There are no limitations.
8:18 a.m.
We passed quickly by Awarta, both the car park and the roadblock are empty.
Beit Furiq
8:24 a.m.
Cars queue on the approach road, there are a few pedestrians going into the town, the roadblock is actually quite deserted.
Za'atra/Tapuach
9:20 a.m.
On our way back there is still a queue of some 20 cars from the direction of Huwwara.
9:27 a.m.
Marda and Zeita: as they were on our way in this morning.
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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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)
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Fathiya AkfaJul-10-2008Huwara: traffic jam on the main road
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