Beit Furik, Huwwara, Za’tara (Tapuah), Mon 5.11.07, Afternoon
Translation: Hanna K.
13:30 A shift consisting of four soldiers protects the hitch-hiking stop next to Ariel, being chummy with the settlers. They are still there at 17:00.
13:38 Zeita
The entrance road is blocked. There is another road from Huwwara, but in order to reach it one has to pass the CP at the Za'tara Junction. "Do you have one of those in Tel Aviv too?" one of the men we met at the entrance to the village, laughingly asks us.
13:42 Za'tara (Tapuah)
We counted one vehicle at the east and about 15 vehicles at the south. The CP commander tells us that there are no passage restrictions. but there are alerts.
13:55 Burin (Yitzhar)
At the junction soldiers install armoured glass at the three posts.
14:10 Beit Furik
Most of the traffic at the CP – of pedestrians and of vehicles, moves in the direction of the exit from Nablus. The CP commander struts around with his gun on his one shoulder and held in his hand (not hanging limply on his shoulder) so that the barrel is directed at the passers-by. The people in the vehicles leaving Nablus have to leave the car, stand at the side and wait until the vehicle is being checked. The checking of the vehicles also includes the lifting of the engine cover.
14:45 Huwwara
The three checking posts are active. When we arrive the queue is not long, at 15:20 the shed has become full. The men take off their belts before they pass under the metal detectors, some take off their shoes.
At 15:20, when the queue becomes long, they begin performing on some a corporal check that includes the lifting up of the shirt and turning around on the spot. Bags are being checked, ID cards are handed for checking. A number of the men are sent with their bags to the x-ray screening vehicle. They are obliged to jump over the low fence and cross the road to reach the vehicle. The waiting period is about an hour, according to the passers-by. Elderly men and women pass at a separate queue, by way of a side small gate. Three women are taken to the checking cell for women. Macky saw that they don't undergo a corporal checking, but are interrogated. The side of the CP that is distant from Nablus, is completely empty. Men do not stop here anymore to arrange their bags after the checking, or to string the belt back onto the trousers. Women do not wait in the shed for their husbands. During the last weeks we were witness to a very harsh struggle of the soldiers against the Palestinians in this region of the CP and today we witness their success.
Vehicle movement – at the entrance to Nablus IDs and permits are checked. The queue usually moves quickly along, but even so traffic jams of 7-10 cars happen from time to time. A doctor, in a Red Crescent vehicle was detained for a few minutes. The DCO shouted at him very rudely and the doctor was obliged to make a u-turn. The entrance to Nablus was forbidden to him. An ambulance, on its way to Nablus, an emergency case with a siren, waited for 2 minutes until it was allowed to drive on.
At the exit from the town the queue is long. When the soldier signals with his hand, a small gesture signifying "come here", the driver approaches the CP, stops at a certain distance from it, the passengers alight and continue on foot. The driver alone approaches the CP, the vehicle is being checked, the passengers are sent with their bags to the x-ray screening vehicle, and after the passengers' IDs are checked, they are allowed to continue on their way. The duration of the check itself is about 3-4 minutes, not including the waiting time at the traffic jams until the checking posts are reached.
Men who went on the but at 14:45 told us that they had been waiting for it since 12:00.
An inhabitant of Ramallah was detained for an hour and a half because he drove on the apartheid road. How often shall we repeat this – the driver is not a local and there is no signposting forbidding the use of the road. Does he have to guess?
One of the taxi drivers told us about a disorder at Balata – the Palestinian police forces are now acting in the refugee camp.
16:45 Za'tara (Tapuah)
We counted 5 vehicles waiting in the south, 3 in the east.
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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