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Beit Furik, Huwwara, Za’tara (Tapuah), Mon 1.10.07, Afternoon

Observers: Merav A., Nur B. (reporting)
Oct-01-2007
| Afternoon

Natanya translating.

12.50 Za'atra (Tapuach)
11 cars in either direction. The commanders says there are no limitations or alerts and that today he and his soldiers are leaving the checkpoint and it is well that this is so.
13.05 Checkpiont at Burin is empty.
13.10 Beit Furik
Little movement at the CP and the checking is in both directions which is unusual here. A van with a young Chabad arrives with a succah on it and loud music. One of them speaks to us very threateningly. "I will break your camera." They bring the 4 plants to the soldiers. The one shakes the Lulav and the movement at the checkpoint comes to a stop. The commander says it will only take a minute and the Chabad men say the soldiers have to because they are Jews but why should the Palestinians have to wait.
13.40 Huwwara.
Under the sentry tower are three cars which have driven on the apartheid road, Madison which leads to Eitemar and Elon Moreh. There is no sign forbidding this. One driver is a doctor who has to get to Ramallah to operate on a child who had been hurt badly in a road accident. . He has all the necessary documents. We speak to the soldier who are not impressed at the urgency of the matter. Then slowly the soldier climbs the sentry tower where he does something and then comes down to stand guard over the settlers. He passed the drivers without a word. We speak to the commander and eventually the man is freed after 40 minutes, the others at 15.30. One of them says "What is this that the road is not for me? My olive trees are there. They took my land and soon they will take my god too."
The centre claims that there was a sign there but the Palestinians took it down. But we know the area and know that there never was a sign there.
New soldiers are being given a briefing at the checkpoint and so the entrance to the city is closed for 10 minutes. 10 cars are waiting. 3 checking posts one of which has stopped working 15 minutes previously and the pedestrians wait in silence. 2 men say the wait is about an hour to an hour and a half. Women and older men go through the side path which takes about 45 minutes. The young men first go through just taking off their belts next to the x-ray but later they have to do the ritual dance as we are told that now there is more time to check carefully.
Ids and permits are checked at the entrance to Nablus and the passage is swift. At the exit there is the known check with the driver going forwards with the soldier signing him to do so and the passengers alighting and going through on foot while their ids are checked. The car is checked thoroughly sometimes also the engine.
15.07 –A young man is detained because the soldier demanded that he take off his belt while standing in line and he said he would do so when his turn came and has been detained for his cheek. The soldier demands also from others that they take off their belts in the line shouts rudely at the people.
And this is how an incident of stone throwing starts at the checkpoint. One soldier throws a stone. Another sees the stone and calls in the commander and his men who come at a rush.
An old woman greets the soldier with a smile and gets no reply. We meet a person from the Hawarra checkpoint whose family and their sad story we know. Also saw how a prisoner returning was greeted by his happy mother while the soldiers stand with their weapons pointed at them. And it is hard to describe the movement of the hand which the soldier uses to send the women out of the shed as he shouts to them to go outside.
16.00 –Tension as the fast nears its end and everyohne wanted to get home and the soldiers are also impatient. 10 minutes later we leave.
Burin
2 cars and Zaatra 41 cars in both directions at 16.35

  • 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
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  • Za'tara (Tapuah)

    See all reports for this place
    • 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.  
      זעתרא (צומת תפוח). שלטים
      Shoshi Anbar
      Sep-27-2023
      Za'atra (Tapuah Intersection). Signs
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