Beit Furik, Huwwara, Za’tara (Tapuah), Thu 11.10.07, Morning
Translation: Rachel B.
An ordinary day except for the feeling of the holiday approaching (Eid ul-Fitr – the end of Ramadan)) and an increased presence of the army and police throughout the area.
6:25 AM
About 300 yards past the Shomron gate there is checkpoint set up by a combat unit of the Military Police. Tayasir, our driver, thinks that something has happened. About 500 yards past the checkpoint there is another police car.
6:30 AM
On the road to Ariel there is more traffic than the usual (perhaps this is because we have arrived about 10 minutes later than our usual time).
6:35 AM Ariel Junction
Heavy military and police presence – two military Jeeps, soldiers and policemen – more than the usual.
6:40 AM
Marda and Zeita {Checkpoints}are open.
6:42 AM Tapu'ach – Zaatara
There are 7 cars at the Tapu'ach Junction arriving from Ariel and heading towards Ramallah. In the parking lot there is a bus, emptied of its passengers who are standing by and waiting.
6:50 AM Yitzhar – Burin {Checkpoint} is open.
7:00 AM Huwwara
The checkpoint commander is polite and puts no restrictions on us. The District Coordination Office represantative is not present and the traffic is very light. The parking lot is half empty. The holding pen is empty.
7:20 AM
The District Coordination Office represantative arrives.
7:30 AM
A Palestinian car does not stop at the white line and enters the checkpoint very fast. The soldier stops the car, tells the driver to back up to the white line and reprimands him. But he still checks his papers and lets him through with out any kind of punishment.
7:40 AM Beit Fureik
The place is almost deserted. Very few cars pass through and there is no unnecessary harassment.
7:55 AM
A man is detained at the checkpoint . He has been standing and waiting for 10 minutes already. The checkpoint commander won't explain to us why the man had been detained.
At 7:56 AM the man is allowed to go through.
8:10 AM Huwwara
Three quarters of the parking lot is full. As opposed to the general calm and low volume of traffic{observed throughout the morning}, there is a lot of movement of military vehicles which is unusual (we counted 4 army Jeeps that came down from the direction of Shomron)
8:25 AM Burin-Yitzhar Checkpoint is unmanned.
8:30 AM Zaatara – Tapu'ach
There are 6 cars heading towards Huwwara from Ramallah. There are 15 cars coming from Ariel heading towards Ramallah and 5 Israeli cars waiting in their own special line.
8:35 AM Marda and Zeita {checkpoints} are open.
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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Fathiya AkfaOct-11-2007Huwara: traffic jam on the main road
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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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