Beit Furik, Huwwara, Za’tara (Tapuah), Mon 26.5.08, Morning
Translation: Suzanne O.
Za'atra
6:45 a.m.
A coach is parked with all its passengers on board, their documents are inspected, then they are returned to their owners and the coach leaves. This time the passengers were not required to alight.
On our way back at about 10:00 a.m., another coach with its passengers on board also waits for inspection of documents.
There is a large taxi and all its passengers have alighted and are waiting. The driver is a little way away from them, sitting on the pavement; two soldiers stand opposite him with their weapons drawn. There are a lot of soldiers around. It appears that intelligence information has trapped a man suspected as an arms dealer. He is taken from the taxi for interrogation by the Shabak and then to prison. Meanwhile, there is a suspicion that there are dangerous substances in the taxi. Therefore, a military police vehicle is brought in and with the help of the driver it is unloaded and the vehicle is taken apart with the aid of various screwdrivers. We did not wait until the end of the inspection but we made the soldiers return their documents to the passengers so that they can continue their journey in another vehicle if they so wish.
N.B. If you suspected that someone was moved away from the vehicle lest there is a suspicion… well, not really. The taxi driver was given a note from the soldiers requiring that he present himself for interrogation next week at the DCO.
Beit Furik
8:00 a.m.
Routine is shattered. An IDF helicopter appears from the south and lands in the field opposite us. It loads soldiers on to it and takes off into the skies, and then returns for another round. It looks like an exercise or an action that has been completed. At the roadblock everything proceeds as normal. There is no reference to what goes on at the side.
Huwwara
7:00 a.m.
Not many people. A taxi driver, a new friend we have met lately, tells us about the incident during which a Palestinian was killed last week at the roadblock. According to the story the young man had a telephone with an earpiece connected by a wire and instead of a belt he had a piece of wire on which he had hung the telephone. The soldiers shot and killed him and then blew his body up so that the truth would not come out. Another young man at the roadblock tells us a similar story. Later the commander tells us the Israeli version. He was not present at the time but knew the precise details from his point of view. The question of painful truths floats in the space of our existence daily and in these cases doubly so.
Near the roadblock ‘Braslav holy people' dance on and around their singing car. The officer says he is not happy with it and they leave. And then the female soldier at the roadblock sends Palestinians through while singing joyful Braslav songs.
After Beit Furik we returned to Huwwara for another hour.
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)
.
Fathiya AkfaMay-26-2008Huwara: traffic jam on the main road
-
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.Shoshi AnbarSep-27-2023Za'atra (Tapuah Intersection). Signs
-
