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Beit Furik, Huwwara, Sat 24.11.07, Morning

Observers: Hava H., Vivi Z.,
Nov-24-2007
| Morning
Translation: Hanna K.

Huwwara:
When we reached the CP we saw hundreds of people crowding behind the only turnstile, which is blocking the entrance to
Nablus.
A few minutes later the deputy commander called  the people to pass at the wide road leading from the CP to Nablus, and there began a rush of women, children and men around the long and high fences which enclose the CP. Nobody gave a thought to his honour, and they all ran in panic to succeed to do it in time before the soldiers change their mind  and they'll again have to crowd behind the turnstile and pass one by one, in a desperate  slowness. And indeed, when the queue decreases to the dimensions which suited the commander, he stopped the "departure from
Egypt" as he called it.
There are many children and parents, as Saturday is a public holiday in many schools in the
Nablus sector. Tens of people in the different queues pass very slowly and each has his particular luck – one had to wait for two hours in his queue while his friend, who arrived with him, had to wait half an hour more. The undressing is performed meticulously and the magnometers beep, so that one man is sometimes obliged to pass and return and pass again through the x-ray detector, sometimes even five times. At 09:30 there is a loud call to stop all the passages and to lock the turnstiles. Everything stops so that the soldiers who according to their appearance are religious, should begin making the blessings over the Sabbath wine, praying and shaking their bodies looking in the direction of the Palestinians, who remained caught behind the turnstiles. They look at each other with the enormous barrier between them, the soldiers and soldier girls have an expression of distaste, while the Palestinians prefer to keep a noncommittal expression, lest they be hurt.
To the collection of pictures telling the valour of
Israel, in which one sees soldiers laying phylacteries at sunrise next to a tank or an armoured personnel carrier, history has to add Kiddush at the CP opposite barriers that block the lives of tortured civilians.
A military policewoman hysterically shouts the word arsenal "ouachad, hoyah, arja" screaming, shrieking, shouting. Here to the Israeli history will make her the wretched victim of what she herself caused to other victims.
In the queue of the cars leaving Nablus there are dogs.
The Palestinians leave the cars a certain distance before their car reaches the dog trainers, and the dogs circle around the vehicles very thoroughly.
An ambulance transporting a medical crew of men and women also had to undergo the same searching procedure. That is why in half an hour only three cars passed.
The children Matsam and Nazar sold warm beverages, and two other coffee vendors were in the parking lot and said that the soldiers disturb them by words only, threatening to remove them, but haven't done so in the last week.

At Yitzhar
The cars are checked again and again at Za'tara.

We went for a short time to Beit Furik, there are few men and few cars which pass when they reach the CP.
   

  • 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)
  • 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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      חווארה: הבתים הישנים בשטח סי
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