Beit Furik, Huwwara, Za’tara (Tapuah), Mon 19.11.07, Afternoon
Natanya translating.
13.30 4 soldiers guard the hitching post next to Arieal and they are still there at 17.00 when we return.
13.40 The road to Marda is open.
The road to Zeita is still closed with cement blocks and 4 cars
wait on either side.
13.50 The crossroads of Za'tara (Tapuach).
7 cars in either direction. A bus with 20 people wait to be checked. People wait on the road and have been there for 5 minutes but at Huwwara they had been detained for 45 minutes.
The soldier checks efficiently and frees them. We spoke to the commander who says that there is an alert concerning a terrorist attack on military positions.
14.05 At the village of Huwwara stand a police jeep opposite the mosque but we did not see who was sitting inside.
14.10 Beit Furik. We go to the turnstiles and are chased away by the commander. Only beyond the white line. This is done he says to prevent a terrorist attack and we go to the other side of the white line. The checkpoint is decorated by the flags of the blue and white women. We asked the commander how it happened that we were not allowed into the same areas and he says that this had not taken place during his shift and he knows nothing about it.
3 soldiers sit in the enclosure and eat their lunch.
Hardly any pedestrians and whoever does arrive goes through without delay. We could not see what was happening.
Cars arriving from Nablus are checked and trucks even have their wheels checked.
From the direction of Beit Furik as truck waits 25 minutes while 4 cars come up behind it. One of the drivers ask if we cannot help because he has been there 30 minutes and says the soldiers have no heart.
14.45 Huwwara.
We find a television crew there.
3 women with a newborn baby, two older women and one very young girl whom we can see is not well. Her face is yellow and she can hardly walk. The soldiers allow them to go through without even going through the humanitarian line and they get into a taxi.
One detainee who tried to slip through and who is freed 15 minutes later.
The line progresses with no special occurrences. Sometimes the men have to lift or take off an article of clothing.
An elderly man turns to us and asks why there had been no Machsomwatch shift the previous day. He had been detained for three hours in the usual line and 45 minutes in the humanitarian line. We asked how long it had taken today and the answer is from 30 minutes to one hour and 30 minutes.
15.20 An elderly couple arrive at the checkpoint and go into the humanitarian line. They are religious. The commander says that they are the parents of a soldier who is serving at the checkpoint.
15.30 A TV crew of 6-7 people with cameras and television. They say that they are from Al J'azira International, CNN and EPA.
Why today? Because there is a demonstration which is due to arrive from Nablus and they say also from the Israeli side. The soldiers allow them to photograph the humanitarian line and truly the demonstration arrives. 3 Palestinian flags and about 25-30 people singing and shouting slogans . The soldiers close the car lane and put a Hummer there to stop the progress of the people. They call for reinforcements and within minutes 5 jeeps arrive, another Hummer and a police jeep. The TV group is laughing …there are many more soldiers armed to the teeth than demonstrators who are armed with flags.
15.45 An ambulance with sirens blaring arrives. The entrance to Nablus is blocked by the demonstration and it will have to go a different way.
15.50 Next to the humanitarian line sits a handicapped man with his crutches at his side. He is waiting for his taxi to get permission to go through. 20 other cars arrive. While all this is going on people keep passing steadily. In the usual line a military policewoman has started to educate people as to how to stand.
16.00 The demonstration is ended and the soldiers leave. The car lane once more starts to move.
At 16.15 the line emptied.
16.40 Za'tara (Tapuach) 16 cars in either direction.
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.
Ronit Dahan-RamatiJun-9-2026Za'atara (Tapuach Junction). The Temple Flag Above a Station
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