Beit Furik, Huwwara, Za’tara (Tapuah), Sun 11.10.09, Afternoon
Translation: Tal H.
Tapuach-Za'tara Junction Checkpoint 15:20
About 20 cars waiting to be let through southbound from Nablus.
On every concrete slab in this compound of the Israeli army deep in the heart of the West Bank there is a freshly painted inscription in black on a glistening white background: “Kahane lives! Rabbi Kahane was right!!”** Beit Furik Checkpoint 15:45
Scant traffic, unhampered, nothing special to report beyond the glum fact that the soldiers and army post are still there.
Huwwara Checkpoint 16:00
Golani infantry brigade’s colors are flying fresh and high over the checkpoint in the afternoon breeze, and the young soldier standing alone at the entrance post overseeing the entrance of Palestinian traffic into Nablus – usually nowadays driving in unhampered, unchecked, unstopped – this little soldier stands proud, and with a slight hand gesture suddenly stops every new-looking shiny car, scolding its driver for not slowing down to be checked, requiring him to open his trunk and then letting him go with another slight gesture. He returns to his relaxed leaning against the concrete slab so that from the point of view of the Palestinian drivers arriving at the entrance with a swift swing as befits the new procedures, and not anticipating any exception – only when they pass him by as usual, he leaps out, waves his arm angrily roaring “Stooooop!” at their ‘rude speeding’.
There are plenty of new vehicles in the area these days and none of them escapes this demonstration of unrequited authority which, had we not seen it with our own eyes, would have been our candidate for a comic skit TV contest.
At 16:25 a police operations vehicle bristling with antennas and other secret paraphernalia arrived at the checkpoint entrance and two men in grey and black garb (unidentified but definitely reminiscent of crack police/Border Patrol/special units/swat teams/hush hush services) got off, donned bullet-proof vests and rifles, joined the soldiers and sniffer-dog team and began to thoroughly inspect every vehicle coming out of Nablus with young male passengers.
In the evening, internet brief-news-items reported a fake-grenade thrown and a 9-cm. long knife found in a Palestinian’s belongings. Tough competition over the media panic glands: What’s scarier? A fresh, general, explicit nuclear threat out of Moscow or 9 cm. of Palestinian knifery in the heart of the West Bank?
As we got on our way back to Israel at 17:00, the little soldier was still teasing pretty-car drivers on their way into Nablus.
We took the Yitzhar-Jit-Nabi Elias road back. On our way we saw police/army vehicles stationed individually at several places, including the Funduq-Jinsafut junction.
** For the uninitiated: “Rabbi Kahane was right!” is the call to arms of the ultra-racist followers of (Rabbi!) Meir Kahane whose political and social motto was to drive the Palestinian Arabs of this land out, forcibly if need be.
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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