Beit Furik, Huwwara, Za’tara (Tapuah), Thu 4.9.08, Afternoon
Natanya translating.
Ramadan. The clock has been put back an hour by the Palestinian Authority and the fast ends at 181.0
13.30 (Israel time). Sha'ar Shomron.
No checkpoint at the entrance to the occupied territories and we saw no workers who had been detained. Workers walking along the road in the heat of the day after they had fasted the entire day.
Two entrances to Marda are open. The gate at the entrance to Zeita is closed with cement blocks and cars and people cannot go through.
At Za'tara
A taxi is freed as we arrive. There are not lines. 4 detainees who stand with barbed wire around them and a soldier with his weapon pointed at them.
When Daphna speaks to the commander (Tamir) about this he tells the soldier not to point it directly at the detainees.
Three young men were detained as they had been driving an Israeli car without a licence.
The 4th man is bingo….he says this always happens to him and he is kept for 1-2 hours and then freed.
The GSS does not bother to correct its lists. The commander says that as soon as he gets a reply he will free him. Daphne phones the humanitarian centre. We took his phone number and at 14.30 he phoned to say that he had been freed after having been detained since 13.00.
No checkpoint at Burin/Yitzhar.
14.30 Huwwara
There are 3 checking posts and a humanitarian line. No dog trainer.
Tomer of the DCO says that so it will be during the month of Ramadan. People strip themselves of various objects and the soldiers search the parcels of foodstuffs with their hands.
2 young men who delay so as to put their belts on are send away with shouts by the soldier.
The line of pedestrians reaches to the end of the shed and a young man says that he waited 30 minutes. Every few minutes we hear the squeaking and the shout to come forward. One of the men has to empty underpants from a bag. People arriving with a bag are sent to the x-ray device and from there they come back to get their IDs.
It is very hard to see from where we are allowed to stand but Daphna manages to count 10 cars in the lane. The passengers get out and the men have to raise their shirts.
At 15.40 we left.
On the Madison road we counted 14 cars at the exit of Nablus including a bus and a van.
On the right we see the new road to Awarta.
15.50 Beit Furik.
One car lane for cars in both directions. 3 cars in the direction of Nablus. Daphna goes to check the line of those coming from Nablus (13) and a soldier tells the other to close the checkpoint and says that they will only open when we "fuck off."
We move back a little and they continue the checking. When a man comes forward without being called he is sent back and not allowed through for another 5 minutes as a lesson. A soldier stops a car at the entrance to Nablus. "Are you sick? All the time people who are sick pass here."
At 16.15 another post is opened for cars entering Nablus.
We left at 16.20.
At Za'tara are about 7 cars and two checking areas are open.
At Zeia the gate is open but only to pedestrians. At the side was a mound of earth which taxis manage to pass but a driver says that in the morning it had been higher.
16.45 At Haris the road is blocked because of an accident.
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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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