Beit Furik, Huwwara, Za’tara (Tapuah), Mon 10.12.07, Afternoon
Natanya translating.
12.50 Kif al Haras is still closed and cars waiting on both sides of the road.
12.55 Marda is open. Zeita is closed and cars on both sides of the checkpoint.
13.00 Za'tara. 5 cars who pass within 5 minutes.
13.12 Burin. Two jeeps, a bulldozer and an army D-9 are digging at the side of the road. The checkpoint is not manned.
13.20 Beit Furik
At the upper car park is only one car which after a short wait goes through in the direction of Nablus. The checkpoint is quiet and people go through with no problems. One of the soldiers bursts out at us. "Why have you come to bother us. We have already been on our feet for 18 hours. Come some other day." The commander asks us to stand behind the white line but we say we are soon going on our way and he does not insist.
On the road opposite Salem is an armyjeep and next to it three signs to stop but the soldiers will not tell us why they are there.
14.05 Huwwara.
We see an ambulance of the Red Cross which has stopped in the car park. R. the commander also comes and tells us that an elderly woman was knocked over by one of the taxis and her foot has been hurt. She is at once taken to Nablus.
The waiting period is said to be between 2 hours to 15 minutes and one says that today the checkpoint is good and he has waited only 40 minutes. No one bothers us to stay in the sterile area.
A Palestinian is ordered to put all his furniture through the army X-ray vehicle and goes on to the parking lot.
Now and again belts are taken off and most of the time only IDs are checked. There are 2 checking posts and sometimes a third is opened.
14.30 A large taxi arrives and both the car and the passengers are checked by 4 soldiers…everything is checked. Another taxi arrives and two men are sent back to Nablus.
15.10 The prayer of Mincha which is a surrealistic scene…they pray and continue the checking.
The commander explains the difference between "Braslaviem" and the followers of Nachman (a religious jewish sects)…the latter come with loud singing and give doughnuts to the soldiers. The former only want to get to the graves in Nablus and Beit Furik and have to be stopped.
A corner for humour. A young Palestinian comes to us and asks us to explain an SMS which he received. We look and burst out laughing. He has been asked by his telephone company to pass on the word love and so to give 10 shekel to their 'shir-u'trom' (an israeli fundraising for the IDF) The enlightened occupation at its best.
15.35 Burin.
Here also is an army jeep and in it three signs to stop. Micky goes to the soldiers and they said that this is for the Jews who want to go to the illegal outposts. In the evening we hear that these Jews are being evacuated.
16.05 Zatara. 20 cars which are well checked but not delayed for longed and from the south 8 cars.
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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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.
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