Beit Furik, Huwwara, Za’tara (Tapuah), Sun 6.1.08, Morning
Translation: Rachel B.
Zeita: 7:40 AM
Cement blocks are blocking the road.
Za'tara: 7:45 AM
There are 16 vehicles and a bus approaching from the west. The processing through the checkpoint is fairly fast.
From the north: a station wagon taxi that had come from Jenin is parked here. The driver says that he arrived a quarter of an hour ago and the car keys were taken away from him. According to the checkpoint commander there was wanted suspect in the taxi. The other passengers are being detained on suspicion that they might have assisted him in some way.
There are three checking post.
Another station wagon arrives at the special investigation area. The passengers are taken out of the car. One passenger's ID card is taken for examination. After a minute the ID card is returned and the car continues on its way.
8:10 AM: A truck driver from Tul Karem who is transporting milk to the hospital in Salfit is not permitted to continue on his way. It turns out that there is a military operation of some sort in process at Salfit now, and the road to the town is closed. The driver has all the necessary permits to go through. At the Za'tara checkpoint he was allowed to go through but at the impromptu checkpoint {further up the road} he was told to return to Za'tara. Here he was given permission to go through and he arrived again at the impromptu checkpoint and, again, has returned to Za'tara. He told us that he is in touch with the IDF Humanitarian Center. We called them too and were told that the matter is being addressed.
8:45 AM:
We traveled towards Salfit. At the exit for Za'tara we encountered an impromptu checkpoint – 2 soldiers stationed there who know about the truck and let us pass on. Further along the road, about one kilometer further up, there are trucks and an army ambulance stationed by the road – there is a military operation going on in the town. The soldiers whom we approach tell us that there is absolutely no way to get through to Salfit as long as the operation is in process, regardless of it being milk for the hospital which may spoil because of the delay in delivery. While we try to figure out what else we can do, the soldiers report to us that the military operation is concluded and they estimate the truck will be allowed to go through within a half hour.
8:55 AM
We return to Za'tara. The taxi has meanwhile been released. The "wanted suspect" is sitting in one of the cement holding pens that are scattered around. The commander prevents us from approaching him.
9:00 AM
The "wanted suspect" had been released.
9:05 AM
We ask the checkpoint commander to be in touch with the soldiers at the Salfit checkpoint in order to be able to tell the truck driver when he can go through. The commander, indeed, calls the headquarters as we watch, and we are promised that they will inform him as soon as it's possible to pass through.
We leave the checkpoint. On our way to Huwwara we count 16 vehicles. Later in the day we call the truck driver with the milk who tells us that he was permitted to go through about a half hour after we had left.
Beit Furik: 9:25 AM
There are about 30 cars waiting. The drivers mill around, angry. Among them, they say, are drivers who have been waiting since 6:00 AM. The line of cars does not move.
The drivers tell us that two drivers who lost their patience tried to go through the "Apartheid road" (a road only Israeli vehicles may use) but when they saw that the soldiers detected them, they escaped heading back towards Beit Furik. An army Hummer chased them. In our presence, one of the drivers called his home and told us that his three and a half year old daughter told him that the soldiers are throwing stones at his car which is parked next to the house, and that she is scared. From what we hear from other drivers, it appears that perhaps the soldiers threw smoke grenades in the village. We called E. from the District Coordinating Office. He promised to send a representative to investigate within 5-8 minutes..
9:35 AM
R. from the District Coordinating Office arrived. He paused next to the drivers and listened to their complaints and then continued towards the checkpoint. We followed him He talked to the checkpoint commander. We are barred from approaching close enough {to hear what's going on} on account of the "white line" that defines our rights, or, more precisely, our lack of rights at the checkpoint. We were favorably impresses when R. approached us (per our request) and talked to us. The processing of cars is slowed down even more.
9:50 AM
A Jordanian man asks for our help. He does not speak either Hebrew or English, and we send him to R.
who tells him to stand in the line for entry into Nablus. We keep an eye on him.
10:50 AM
The Jordanian man is checked and sent to the holding pen. R. tells us it's for further checking. We discover that there are 2 other people in the holding pen with a soldier stationed to guard them. We are unable to get close to them.
10:10 AM
A driver who arrived at the checkpoint was required to unload everything in his truck which is piled with cardboard boxes and containers. It's not clear to us what is in them. For about 10-15 minutes he unloads, getting about half the contents of the truck off. Then we see him talking on the phone. Perhaps the soldier standing next to him gave him permission to do this for some reason. During the whole conversation, which lasted about 5 minutes, another soldier stands there with his gun aimed on the driver. When the driver finished his phone call he was not required to unload the rest of the truck and now had to reload by himself everything he had taken off.
10:30 AM
We leave the checkpoint and go to Huwwara.
Huwwara: 10:35 AM
There are about 30-40 people at the turnstiles. Very few cars in either direction. X – Ray machine is present. The District Coordinating Office representative, A. is here, too. There is a station wagon with an "Mbc Press" crew that has been given permission to enter Nablus. They hold off because they want to interview us. Yael explains to them about MachsomWatch. The interview will be broadcast on Korean television.
10:50 AM
We leave the checkpoint,
Beit Furik checkpoint
See all reports for this place-
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)
-
Huwwara
See all reports for this place-
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)
.
Shoshi AnbarMay-18-2025Huwara: The old houses in Area C
-
Za'tara (Tapuah)
See all reports for this place-
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
-