Beit Furik, Huwwara, Za’tara (Tapuah), Thu 6.12.07, Afternoon
Translation: Hanna K.
16:00 Awarta –
3 cars are waiting to leave Nablus and 2 to enter it. The passage is quick without delays.
16:10 – Beit Furik –
The taxi drivers at the exit from Beit Furik tell us that the cars are waiting a long time to enter Nablus.
From the conversation with the drivers of the 5 waiting cars it turns out that they have been waiting for over an hour. When we arrive at the CP, immediately when we crossed the white line, 3 soldiers came running, and their colleagues joined them so that all the 6 soldiers of the shift stood around us (perhaps one was left at the booth, but none was left to let pass the many Palestinians who crowded behind the turnstiles or the long row of cars coming from Nablus, whose end we couldn't see).
The usual argument that we disturb them in their work, that we should remove ourselves to the other side of the white line, otherwise they won't let the Palestinians pass. The commander is very hostile.
There is no point in arguing, it is cold, the wind blows dust into our eyes and our heart aches for all these people, babies, sick people, so we retreat to behind the white line.
The commander couldn't care less about the instructions of the legal adviser for the occupied territories – he just won't let anybody pass the white line and that's it.
The first car that passes stops next to us. Two distinguished gentlemen sit in it and one of them addresses us in an angry voice: "the soldier told us that if you are here, he doesn't let us pass!"
We begin explaining and he stops us and says: "continue coming, don't give up. The soldiers don't want you here, but well done to you that you come" and when the car goes on driving he repeats: "well done!"
The CP commander comes running and scolds us for stopping cars at the CP.
At the beginning I couldn't understand what he meant, and then it transpired that he meant the car that stopped near us, far from the CP, quite a distance beyond the crazy white line… From the moment we retreated to the white line the soldiers began letting pass almost without any checking and in five minutes all the pedestrians (because of the distance an exact estimate is impossible, but it seems there were about 100) and a large part of the cars.
16:50 – Huwwara –
Many people crowd near the turnstiles, near the "humanitarian" passageway, to leave Nablus. In the dark and because of the distance, it is difficult to estimate their number, they look like a big human block, but surely there are over 100 people.
When we arrive a young woman is investigated near the stairs to the parking area and a few young men are waiting for her. It turns out that she tried to leave Nablus by way of the turnstile intended for the entry. One of the soldiers wants to detain her, the other jests with her and she in turn jests with him (does she have another option?). The waiting lads become nervous at this situation and fear for her honor. The tension grows and Dorit tries to calm it, all the more because we got the impression that the jesting soldiers tries to persuade his colleagues not to detain her. She is led into the "women's checking booth" and the young men relax only when we point out that it is a woman soldier who enters with her, not a man. The young men leave, and the girl remains standing, with her girl friend, near the passages behind the turnstiles.
One of the soldiers notices that I crossed the white line and arrives in haste to remove me. I refuse and he calls his commander, an officer with the rank of a lieutenant, who says he'll call the police. I hear him say into the phone that "the Machsomwatch women create havoc at the CP".
In the meantime an elderly man, an Israeli citizen Palestinian from Faradis turns to us (yes, yes, the same man who six months ago volunteered to transport to Gaza the man who underwent heart surgery who lay on the pavement at the CP and he sends warm regards to Yehudit L.). His mother is an invalid, lives in Nablus, and he is detained each time he comes to visit her. His four year old son is due to undergo next week in Haifa a serious operation on his legs and he very much wants his mother and sister to come to him from Nablus. He submitted a request but it doesn't seems probable that his will be granted.
17:30 – The detained girl is released and we leave.
At Za'tara – there are 6 cars from north to south and 3 from west to east.
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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