Beit Furik, Huwwara, Za’tara (Tapuah), Mon 28.1.08, Afternoon
Natanya translating.
12.40 The hitchiking post at Ariel is empty.
Marda …the opening has been closed with more barbed wire.
Zeita is blocked.
Za'tara 6 cars from the north.
1.15 Beit Furik.
7 cars in the carpark. Some have been waiting an hour, others an hour and a half and they say that the soldiers are acting unpleasantly at the checkpoint. We complained to the centre.
When we got to the checkpoint a spectacled bearded captain came up to us barking in the army fashion (I think he was a bit confused) ….listen and listen well. I am responsible here and you get the hell out of here to the white line. Clear?? Macky tries to speak to him but he refuses to listen saying if we do not go beyond the white line he will call the police. Closes the checkpoint. We say you can phone but it is forbidden for you to close the checkpoint. While we go to the white line one of the soldiers tries to speak to the captain and calm him. What do you care. Let them stay. They are not disturbing us. But he sticks to the line that he is the captain and the checkpoint is his and he decides what is what. We phoned R. but he was sick so left H. a message.
At 1.30 we again phoned the humanitarian centre.
1.40 The first cars pass. A new innovation. The cars have to stop 10 metres before the checkpoint and the driver gets out with his Id and the passengers have to go through the pedestrians checking area. The check takes about 2 minutes a car. A young man who gets out of a car says to us in excellent English that he is a doctor and he needs to get to his clinic but has already been waiting an hour.
A truck is at last allowed through without any checking of contents or anything else.
14.00 Awarta Back to back for trucks and a long line waiting to enter Nablus.
14.05 Huwwara A soldier asks if we had brought cake and we said no and he asked if we did not like Golani and later asks Macky is she had brought him tea.
The shed is completely full and people complain about the delay…a waiting period of about an hour and a half. T. says that the soldiers are a new group at the checkpoint. One of the turnstiles is broken and soldiers arrive to fix it.
A young man is checked, his shoes taken off and he is taken to isolation.
There are three young men waiting and they are given a body check in the isolation and then taken behind the humanitarian line where they are told to take off their upper garments and freed 10 minutes later.
When we ask why we are told that they were questioned by the secret service. Their cousin asked us a number of times to get them freed and we waited until this was done. When we left there were already 4 more young men in the isolation.
A dog trainer is present and the x-ray machine.
16.00 Za'tara 40 cars , 2 checking areas and no great delays. From the west it is empty.
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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