Beit Furik, Huwwara, Za’tara (Tapuah), יום ש’ 17.5.08, בוקר
Translation: Suzanne O.
Za'atra
We arrived at 7:15 a.m. There are 15 cars from north to south. Three lanes are open and the crossing flows. From west to east there are 5 cars in the queue. When a coach arrives the crossing is held up and a long queue builds up. The coach passengers are taken off for inspection and they all get their documents back. The inspection took some 10 minutes. As soon as the coach left the soldiers were able to deal with the rest of the cars and the traffic started to flow again. The inspections were random.
Huwwara
We arrived at 8:15 a.m. The traffic of pedestrians in the direction of Nablus is very heavy. The car park is almost full and business is good. At the entrance from Nablus to the south the queue reaches the edge of the hut. Three inspection lanes and a ‘humanitarian' one are functioning. A young disabled man walking with the aid of a stick is asked to raise his trouser bottoms and also to expose his stomach. He finds it very difficult to do so without leaning on his stick but ‘orders are orders' and nothing can be done about them.
Suddenly a few officers appear in a white jeep, similar to those used by the DCO. They all put on their flak jackets and tin helmets and go over to the inspection lane leading north. Traffic stops and the atmosphere is tense – what's going on? A few minutes later a convoy of new, clean, black estate cars appears bearing the badges of the Palestinian Police, behind them are two new, shiny coaches with POLICE written on them and motorcyclists accompany them all. Are these the forces that will serve in Jenin?
When the convoy passed we heard on their wireless that the officers should ‘rush' to Tapuach to help the Palestinian police cross there too. From where we stood we could see the faces of those sitting by the windows in the coach, they did not express either happiness or excitement but only wonder or perhaps anger that the IDF accompanies them to their destination in their own country.
The roadblock opened again for traffic, a new detainee stands smoking beside the lockup. The roadblock commander explains that the man "is wearing a jacket with pouches, like those of the soldiers and they need to check where the jacket comes from". This shows that in the territories one should weigh the kind of fashion one wears in order not to be held up at the roadblocks.
We are happy to report that the man is released immediately after our enquiry. A ‘security' incident of the highest level.
We left at 10:00 a.m.
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 AkfaMay-17-2008Huwara: 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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