Beit Furik, Huwwara, Za’tara (Tapuah), Mon 27.10.08, Afternoon
Natanya translating.
We stopped at the blocked entrance to Zeita – Jamma'im. We noticed how the army had places the rocks around the blockage so that cars could not get through in any way. The blockage has been there since 2007. People in the village asked us until when this will be and of course we had no answers for them. A car arrived and we saw how heavy objects are brought to the village. Two cars come in reverse to the blocked area and then the objects are taken from the baggage compartments and passed over "back to back."
The olive season is in full swing and we see those picking in the groves. People complain that the army does not allow them to pick close to the road. The army says this is for security reasons. It is not clear what danger these pickers represent.
13.00 Za'tara CP.
Hardly any cars in either direction. Reserve soldiers at the checkpoint. A bus arrived from the north (Huwwara) . All the IDs are collect and the soldier checks while the bus has to drive into the parking area. After it stops the soldier hands the IDs back to the driver.
13.35 Huwwara CP.
The building of the new checkpoint is going ahead rapidly. The areas on both sides of the checkpoint are being prepared from the West. There are about 100 people in the lines at all times. Young men say that it takes between 30 minutes to an hour to pass. The military policewomen insist that the line of young men begins far from the turnstile beyond an imaginary line which they are forbidden to pass. Fom time to time they stop the checking and shout at people to go back. The rain begins to come down and people standing outside the shed push to get in. So the line is pushed forward. The soldiers stop the checking and shout at the people to go back. This evening though the line is not only 20 metres away from them and also far from the checkpoint. Again and again we see cars being turned back and not allowed into Nablus. This ends when the DCO representative joins the soldier who is checking.
We meet Swedis-Norwegian-Dutch journalists who interview Macky. The soldiers try to prevent them from photographing. They try to photograph the line of those standing and the commander rushes forward shouting "You may not photograph the line." We explain to him that they have no connection with any line and that they can go into any area of the checkpoint according to army regulations. In the end an army spokesman from the brigade is called in to accompany them.
15.25 Beit Furik.
A taxi driver tells us that at 5am when the workers arrive one of them had evidently said something to one of the soldiers checking and as a result the checkpoint had been closed for half an hour. When they open there was an enormous line and the checking had been very slow. We go up to the checkpoint and see that on the cement blocks is a sign which says "The stand of Machsomwatch' far from the checkpoint. See the photo. ON the other side someone had written "Death to the Arabs" and someone had tried to wipe it out. Other new additions to the checkpoint are the place of detention which is fenced in with barbed wire (see the photo).
At the checkpoint are 10s of people waiting to exit Nablus. There are about 10 cars. When we arrive the soldiers do everything they can to send us off but in the end we are allowed to stand for some minutes and this is regarded as being very decent on their part. The soldiers do not understand what our problem is and ask if we want that they should not check them. They cannot understand that at the end of a day of work people want to go home without going through a checkpoint.
16.30 A little to the north of the entrance of the village of Zeita is an army jeep which is stopping to check cars at a rolling checkpoint.
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)
.Fathiya AkfaOct-27-2008Huwara: traffic jam on the main road
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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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