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Beit Furik, Huwwara, Wed 7.1.09, Morning

Tags: Detainees
Observers: Nomi L., Edna C.(reporting)
Jan-07-2009
| Morning

Translation: Hanna K.

I've never been afraid to go out to the CPs. I've never been afraid to walk around the most remote alleys in the most remote villages. This time I was afraid. I thought that if I were a Palestinian woman, I would have liked to kill every possible Jew. And I also thought that if they would kill me, I would deserve it.

But I also thought that it was injust that they should hear the cries of joy of the crowd at the coliseum after each goal.  After each hit on an "important personality", after each destruction of a building, after each shelling, and that they should hear the voices of people who think differently. Completely differently.

So I set out with Nomi at half past six in the morning.


The Za'tara Junction was empty. From the west there was no barrier at all, southward there was one car. There were no detainees and no queues.

But when we entered Huwwara  we understood where all the forces were.
At the entrance to Beita, near the new center (Falafel and sweets) next to the mosque, everywhere military jeeps were standing and driving around. There was also a huge and ugly military truck the likes of which I've never seen before.
Sometimes there were soldiers sitting in the vehicles, sometimes they came out and stationed themselves in the shade of the shops. We stopped next to one of the shops and asked what was going on. The people said that the soldiers were checking people in their village, detaining them for some time (they said two hours) taking ID cards and checking. We gave them a telephone number and asked them to call in case of a special event. They did not call.


Huwwara, at the new CP, the commander showed us a letter from the Brigadier who indicated where we could stand. We ignored the request not to move, and continued talking with him.
There was one detainee whose fiancée waited impatiently for his release. After one hour's detention he was released. She said that about six months ago he was detained for seventeen days, released without being given a reason (as they detained him without giving a reason), since then he is "bingo".

At the taxi station somebody came up and said he needed transporation for his two year old daughter to the Hadassa hospital. I made contact between him and Jamilla who took him into her care.


At Beit Furik the taxis enter and leave without having to ask their passengers to descend.
A wonderful sight. It seems they took the CP off only in order to  irritate the coffee vendor on the corner.

We went back to the Huwwara CP. A boy of about seven sold crembos for half a shekel. Nomi bought one crembo for three shekels. When we left the parking we offered it to a boy who stood on the side. A grown-up person who stood next to the boy shouted: we can't take anything from you. You slaughter us and we don't want anything from you. Just leave us in peace. We felt ashamed.

At Huwwara village the vegetable vendor didn't smile. When I asked he said, what is there to smile, tell me, what is there to smile. The heart is full of blood from all the slain people.

The tall building next to the vegetable shop is very much liked by the army. Each time when there is tension, or when the army imagines that there is tension, or when the army knows that it deserves such a tension, this house is the victim. Somebody told us that the soldiers who sit in the building on the upper floor throw stones on the neighboring, lower buildings. I've no idea whether this is true.

What is definitely true is that all the offices reside there, one cannot go up because it's forbidden.

There wasn't anything special in this shift, there were no queue, no detainees en masse. There was much tension, amazement, hatred and who knows who will pay the price of this hatred.

 

  • Beit Furik checkpoint

    See all reports for this place
    • 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

    See all reports for this place
    • 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
      Shoshi Anbar
      May-18-2025
      Huwara: The old houses in Area C
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