Beit Furik, Huwwara, Sun 5.10.08, Afternoon
Translator: Tal H.
We headed to our shift by way of Nebi Elias-Kedumim-Yitzhar colonies. At the spot where the 'illegal' outpost (offshoot of the illegal colony) had stood until recently, merely piles of garbage are seen now. Two young Jewish colonists proudly seated on their horses, their sidecurls ruffled by the wind were also seen at the roadside.
Huwwara Checkpoint 15:15
Commander: 2nd lieutenant Arye, DCO representative: Tomer; 3 active checking posts
X-ray truck in action. Upon our arrival we see no detainees in the hold.
Policewoman Dina has set a new acoustic record: throughout the entire first hour of our shift she never once ceased to exchange shouts and screeches with her colleague and verbally play around with the other soldiers. Such a barrage of shouts/jokes/talking in fluent Arabic but with an unintelligible Hebrew accent – Palestinians could not understand her – we have not experienced here to date. To a Palestinian who actually thought she was talking Hebrew to him, and said desperately "but I don't understand Hebrew!', she furiously replied: "Me, talking to you in Hebrew???! I'm talking to you in Arabic!!! Get back!!!!"
The only few moments in which she suddenly quieted down – but then the checks also ceased – were when she grabbed a camera to photograph us, together with the securing soldier nearest her.
The other soldiers follow suit and – for a change… – kept the waiting lines 'neat'. "Whoooooooooooooooa!!!! You there, crush out that cigarette, immediately!!!"
15:45 A young man is detained and sent to the concrete cubicle. Judging by the way the soldiers grab the back of his neck and push him in, we assume he is being punished for some behavior in the waiting line.
MPolicewoman Dina invents a lyric masterpiece and roars: "3 (or 6, her diction left something to be desired) months and I'm not here!!!"
Average waiting time in her checking line per person is over one hour. In the other two lines, it is visibly shorter. In mid-check, she yells to her colleague in the furthest checking post: "Shiran, I got a question for you: say in the middle of your shift, a terrorist comes up to you with a knife thisssssssssssssss long, and your gun is pointed down like it is now, what would you do??"
On the vehicle checking lane, a bus waits over half an hour while the soldiers process its passengers' IDs.
16:30 the last detainee is released.
We learn that this morning, a 22-year old Palestinian showed up at the checkpoint lines with two pipe bombs!! He was held, interrogated, and… released. A fact that the soldiers and the public are not at all aware of. Apparently he was released because he actually had no other intentions than to get arrested, hoping his family would thus gain a better source of livelihood than he has by being a poor worker.
On our return from Beit Furik, at 17:25, MPolicewoman Dina is still screeching, and for every two Palestinians passing through the other two checking posts, a single one gets her full attention.
17:55 – commander Arye has caught a "leaker" who even dared to try to escape his grip. As a punishment, his arm is harshly twisted behind his back while he being led towards the hold area, and his search includes the extra kicks to the legs in order to splay them enough, before being slammed into the cubicle.
Beit Furik Checkopint 16:45
Vehicles are checked on one lane only, meaning that alternately in- and out-going vehicles from the city are inspected. The soldiers are bored, demonstratively slow, at least 5 cars are waiting endlessly to approach the checkpoint. A soldier grunts to himself, thinking of the Palestinians: "Enough already, stop coming here!"
Half an hour later we were on our way back to Huwwara.
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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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Shoshi AnbarMay-18-2025Huwara: The old houses in Area C
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