Beit Furik, Huwwara, Sha`ar Shomron (Qasem), Za’tara (Tapuah), Mon 21.4.08, Afternoon
Natanya translating.
13.40 Shaar Shomron.
No detainees and there are police reinforcements. There are cars all along the dirt road to the villages of Bruqin and Dik even though there is no checkpoint today.
No chances are being taken. The entrance to Zeita is still blocked and there are many cars parked there but no people. The eastern entrance to Marda is open.
14.00 Za'tara. 13 cars from the north and no detainees inside the checkpoint.
14.04 Huwwara.
A line of at least 10 cars wait to enter Nablus. Why? The soldier who must relieve the soldier who did not feel well, so says A. from the DCO. The checkpoint is calm today and only about half the shed is full the whole time and people wait about 10 minutes in the regular line and this is so even though only two checking areas are working.
14.00 About half an hour later a third turnstile opens and there is a small but steady stream of people. For the moment there is no dogtrainer. They will arrive later when it is not so hot. We have already learned that the dogs are not brought to work when hot. The x-ray machine is working.
A taxi is checked, 10 minutes and all the contents are sent to the x-ray machine. Doors are opened and the driver and passengers do the ritual dance and strip.
14.20 A man is caught on the Madison road. When we got nearer we heard the following story. The man got to the checkpoint of Huwwara and from there was sent for some reason to the checkpoint at Awarta and when he came out not knowing about the orders concerning this road he was caught and his ID taken from him. The captain who took it did not even bother to come to the checkpoint and so the man was very worried as to what had happened to his ID. Of course this is against the law. When an ID is taken it must be taken to a checkpoint which is known to the person and not remain in the pocket of the soldiers.
(Estie who was there with a guest managed to have him freed after about an hour).
15.00 While the ID of this man is being returned to him another man arrives with a similar story.
The DCO says that it is so, that trucks have to go through Awarta but the man has a van and not a truck.
The DCO says it must be a black van. No we say it is white….and what has the colour to do with the price of cheese?
He was told that he would be detained for 7 hours as punishment. Afterwards they spoke of 3hours. The commander would not speak to us.
A vehicle of the BBC was not allowed into Nablus and detained at the side. The DCO is busying trying to get a permit for them (we are surprised as is this his job?). E. arrives and of course they are allowed through.
15.45 After a number of calls to the humanitarian center and to the DCO who is present we went to Beit Furik and took the number of the man, promising to return but in the hope of not finding him there. While we are speaking to him another man comes to say that he had been sent to Awarta and had been caught on the Madison road.
16.00 Beit Furik.
No people and only 4 cars. The commander comes to speak to us and says that we will please stand today and always over there…that is behind the white line. Because there are no great problems we leave after about 15 minutes. All the cars have gone by and others that arrives, about a minute check to each.
16.30 There were at least 5 detainees from the Madison road. The feeling was that because the checkpoint was "smooth" today the soldiers had to find their "livelihood" in other ways or that they were playing games…how nice it is to play games. Three minutes later another man was added to the group. Phone calls to the humanitarian centre did not help. "It is a military order, they have to find other ways, we cannot interfere with the decisions of the commander of the checkpoint."
We met a mother and 4 daughters, Israeli citizens from Lod, who had gone into Nablus to visit their grandmother and had been caught when they came out and were waiting for the blue police.They were still there when we left.
We left at 17.00. Phoned the first man who had been detained at 3 and had now been released and who thanked us for our help.
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 AkfaApr-21-2008Huwara: traffic jam on the main road
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Za'tara (Tapuah)
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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
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