Beit Furik, Huwwara, Za’tara (Tapuah), Sun 10.8.08, Afternoon
Translator: Charles K.
DCO representative: T. Commander: a Golani officer
15:00 No line at Za'tara. No checkpoint at Burin/Yitzhar.
Huwwara:
Long lines. 4 youths in isolation. They were caught 15 minutes ago trying to sneak through the hills. Their from Jenin and Beit Iba. They're only being detained to check their documents (according to the checkpoint commander).
People complain about having to wait on line for an hour. It's very crowded. The x-ray truck is still out of order. The contents of bags and sacks are checked at the booths.
16:10 The dog handler arrives. It's still hot.
The officer chases away people who are waiting in the shady portion of the plaza, calling out "Yalla," and waving his hands. "Please" isn't part of the checkpoint lexicon.
The lines are still long. The women's line is also particularly long.
It takes 5-6 minutes to check a car, and there are about 10 cars on line (leaving Nablus) – in other words, about an hour wait.
Beit Furik
16:35 No cars at the checkpoint. Few pedestrians.
A soldier comes over to find out who we are, and what we're doing here. When we explain that we're there to protest the existence of the checkpoint he's amazed – the checkpoint is there to defend the country. He wasn't able to recover from our fallacious arguments, and the stunned look on his face doesn't change when his friend comes over to tell him that we're not worth talking to.
We twice watched the dog handler working, the dog sniffing and dripping saliva. Even though there's not a lot of work, the dog handler is rude and jumpy. "Go," she bays at a man standing in front of her, and doesn't release the turnstile in which a mother and baby are trapped. Indifference to the feelings of others, to ignore someone standing right in front of you as if he were transparent as air and did not exist, even if only for a short time, and to keep chatting with another soldier should serve as a clear warning signal.
We have to drink coffee and hear what's happening to Abu Salah in the area. The situation was unreal.
17:40 Back in Huwwara from Beit Furik.
The detainees were already released. There are still lines.
The soldiers seem exhausted. If, previously, the inspections were conducted relatively slowly, but quietly and in a businesslike manner, the soldiers are now joking among themselves, yelling at the Palestinians, and the inspections are being carried out so precisely that it's insulting. And we recall that it's the Ninth of Ab, the day the Temple was destroyed, and we're witnessing the destruction of all standards of morality and honor which are the basis of a healthy society.
18:00 We left when the checkpoint commander opened a fast lane and a flow of women flooded the 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)
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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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