Beit Furik, Huwwara, Za’tara (Tapuah), Thu 27.12.07, Morning
Translation: Maureen A.
7:30 The Checkpoint between Israel and the territories (The Shomron Gate) is as usual.
There are a lot of policemen here, probably to check for stolen cars.
7:43 Marda is open, Zeita is closed off by concrete blocks.
7:50 Za'tara Junction – 45 vehicles are waiting in line towards Huwwara.
8:00 Burin/Yitzhar is open.
8:05 Beit Furik –
It has never been so bad during our shift. The drivers get out of their vehicles about 50 meters from the Checkpoint, walk the 10 meters to the soldiers, hand over their documents, are questioned and then return to their vehicles to wait until the soldier feels like waving them through. It takes each car more than five minutes to go through; there is really a line of about 20 vehicles leaving Beit Furik, each waiting for more than two to three hours since this morning. There's only one line open. Esti calls the IDF Humanitarian Centre and they promise that the situation will improve in a few minutes.
The DC Officer arrives and things really do improve. We hear the DCO officer on the phone; he is complaining about the soldiers' behavior. He reports that they are cursing the local population and acting rudely, checking those passing through the checkpoint extra-carefully etc. We have the feeling that the situation at the checkpoints has gotten worse since Annapolis.
8:40 After we see that the soldiers have calmed down a bit and are letting the vehicles through at an acceptable pace – and that they have even opened up another line, we see one of the soldiers let fly at a driver who didn't wait fo his signal and crossed the road between Beit Furik and the Checkpoint. He forced (by yelling at him) the driver and the other drivers who were lined up behind him on the road to go back up to the entrance road to Beit Furik. This took a few minutes and it looked like a real riot was starting, with the soldiers yelling at the Palestinian drivers. It looked like something was going to explode from the soldiers' side and it was really a frightening scene. Obviously, no cars were allowed through during this time. Three soldiers were standing opposite the drivers, with their loaded weapons pointed at them, yelling and screaming at them.
A couple arriving from Nablus on their tractor were stopped, not allowed access to their land.
The DC Officer left a representative at the Checkpoint, who was supposed to make sure that the soldiers really did speed up the security checks. During the riot, he called one of the army bases or one of the district commands and told the soldier who was to write up the report that the soldiers only let the man through, claiming that it wasn't logical that the woman would work the land. As time passed, we found out that the soldiers had come here from service in the Gaza Strip. It looks as if they've brought Gaza to the territories; if they keep up this kind of behavior, it really will be Gaza here.
As a sequel to their wild behavior, the soldiers ordered the driver who crossed the road in his car before he got the signal to do so, to stand near them, 50 meters from the Checkpoint and wait. They simply punished him. After that, the soldiers began to work at a decent pace.
8:50 Huwwara –
The soldiers at Huwwara are from the same battalion as those at Beit Furik.
The difference between them is enormous – everything here is calm and quiet, no lines. The officers talk to us, and we tell them about their friends' behavior. Their reaction: "They probably didn't receive the right briefing." The owners of the stands in the parking lot tell us that the soldiers have ordered them to dismantle their stands. In talking to the soldiers, we learn that they are trying to remove the stands because they are illegal and that they are trying to get permits for them. They hope it won't take too much time.
9:20 Za'tara Junction – the traffic jam has eased up, 10 vehicles are waiting.
On the way back, Marda and Zeita are in the same state they were in when we passed this morning.
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.
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