Beit Furik, Huwwara, Za’tara (Tapuah), Mon 15.9.08, Afternoon
Natanya translating.
13.50 Za'tara (Tapuach).
4 cars from the west and 5 from Ramallah. A young man was detained for an hour and a half. He is the "bingo" (his name on a list). Each day he is stopped at each checkpoint, Huwwara and Beit Iba. The soldiers give him his ID and say that he can go home. But he is angry and throws it down. The commander, a major, says that this is according to the orders.
A bus is sent to the parking area for checking. The driver complains about the time he is losing. All the passengers prefer to travel in taxis because these are not stopped. The passengers have to stand in an orderly line at the side of the bus and later to move to the side. The military policewoman says to the driver "Don't make a noise next to them" and to the passengers she says vulgarly "Go back. Come forward. If you don't move back it will take hours." The baggage compartment is checked and the bags inside the bus. 11 minutes. The soldier reads the names and one by one people get their IDs. Two checkpoints are now behind them….Huwwara and Za'tara and they are on their way to Ramallah with more CPs' on the way.
14.20 Beit Furik.
Mainly pedestrians exiting Nablus. IDs are checked. Few cars. The baggage compartment is checked. A short argument with the commander who demands politely that I move back. I refuse also politely and stay where I am and the argument ends.
14.50 Huwwara.
Where the new checkpoint is being built is a rectangular shed.
A young man is detained for an hour. "Bingo." He was in jail in Israel and his wife is waiting for him. Over the isolation is a new sign…"Detention post" of which we are enclosing a picture.
At 15.40 the man is released.
Three checking posts for men, long and well-disciplined. Belts taken off and put on on the other side of the checkpoint. They pass through the x-ray device. Bags and parcels are checked. The x-ray machine for bags and parcels is not working. Half the time it stands on the side without use and then another is taken and returned. The waiting time for men is between half an hour to an hour.
A humanitarian line for women and men over 45. Men who stop for a moment on the other side of the checkpoint to dress themselves are chased away vulgarly. "What is going on here…Castro (a fasion shop)?" They are also chased from the "pit" today. Everyone is chased away to the market place.
Cars. At the entrance to Nablus IDs and permits are checked. There are not many cars in this direction and the passage is swift. At the exit from the city there is a continuous stream of cars. The passengers exit the cars a distance from the checkpoint and the driver goes up to the checkpoint on his own. The car is checked both inside and the baggage compartment and then the passengers come up one by one. Bags are checked by hands and the men are given a body search, lifting their shirts and turning around, showing their calves and IDs. This takes 45 minutes for a bus.
A car is detained and we go up. Three elderly men inside. They had travelled on the road to Yitamar and Elon Moreh, an apartheid road for Jews only. They have been detained for an hour and a half.
The fast of Ramadan. They have food in the car for a festive meal. They are from Ramallah and did not know about the forbidden road,……….they know the apartheid roads in their own areas. And there is no sign there.
40 minutes of phoning to the centre. We are told that there is no such car at the checkpoint. We again give the number and describe where the cars is standing. After a long discussion in the car lane leaving Nablus, under the quarry and another 5 telephone calls we are told that the detention during Ramadan has been shortened from 3 hours to one hour only and they are immediately freed (after a detention of more than two hours). The alleviations for Ramadan.
The soldier at the car lane entering Nablus stops because we are standing at the turnstile. The commander sends him back to work after 5 minutes. He shouts at us, "Yah you disgusting women." And "It is a pity you do not appreciate the soldiers because of whom you can put your heads on the pillow at night."
At 15.50 The soldiers with drawn weapons descend on a driver of a truck who is being checked at the exit from Nablus. It is not clear why. We go nearer. The same soldier charges up to me and stands next to me, very hostile with his breath on my cheek. "Get away from her. Shove off." And then he pushed me with his hand on my shoulder. (Not a push which will make me move and so far without much force.) I demanded his details from the commander of the checkpoint which was only given after I said that I would be forced to make a complaint against him as he is responsible for his soldiers. I got the name of the soldier and his number. The next day I made a complaint.
The usual picture at the checkpoint. Two elderly women, one on a cane are allowed to pass in the car lane. A picture on our website.
17.10 Za'tara. 7 cars coming from Ramallah. From the west empty.
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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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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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