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Beit Furik, Huwwara, Za’tara (Tapuah), Wed 18.3.09, Afternoon

Observers: Mika A. Tammie C.
Mar-18-2009
| Afternoon

Natanya translating.
 

We were told that since the closing of the checkpoint at Beit Iba and that the passage there is open the pressures on this Huwwara CP has lessened. In the shed were few young people who were checked according to the whim of the soldiers (military police). Sometimes there was no checking and sometimes a young man with a close filling t-shirt to lift it and turn. That is the logic of the checkpoint, but dafke the humanitarian line was very crowded even though that also passed fairly quickly but the military policeman here was evidently a representative of the educational captain and all the time was busy educating and more about that later.

14.15 The Shomron crossing where the traffic is flowing in both directions.
Beita is open. Two gates at Marda are open. Zeita is closed.
 
14.35 Crossroads of Za'tara/Tapuach are empty in all directions but from the direction of Huwwara about 20 cars (which had already been checked at Huwwara.

14.45 Huwwara. 
When we arrived at the checkpoint the commander, G.  came up to us and after greeting us told us to stand in "your place" from which it was difficult to see and watch. From time to time we tried to improve our position with small success. A young man arrived together with a younger brother who did not have his papers. They had gone through that morning to a doctor and no one had stopped them. (At the entrance to Nablus there is no check). They wanted to go home but the younger one was not allowed to pass (there are rules and without papers there is no passage). We took the phone number of the father from the older brother who spoke good Hebrew and got his ID and his name. Because the DCO representative was no available we turned to A., the captain of the Nablus DCO and told him the story. He immediately came to our aid and brought the DCO to the checkpoint N. to solve the problem of the lack of papers. All the time Hamdan helped us and was very efficient. The DCO representative solved that problem and the two brothers went on their way home.
In the meantime we saw that the women's line was stuck and that the military policeman had decided to educate them and to teach the girls how the checkpoint was run and so he had stopped the line and was letting the men through. We asked for an explanation and were told that he did not owe us an explanation and so we turned again to A. from the DCO for help. He arrived very quickly and taught the soldiers how the place was run and immediately the line of women emptied and we were very grateful to him as he had carried out his duties. When we left there were only a few people passing and the cars passed and were hardly stopped.

16.25 Beit Furik. There are soldiers present but the traffic is flowing.
 
16.45 On our way home we saw that there was a line of about 40 cars exiting Huwwara.
Other places there were no changes about entering villages.

17.00 The Shomron passage is flowing.
 
17.15 Azzun Atma, the new checkpoint. We met three workers waiting to be taken to Kibbutz Einat for the night shift and they told us of their difficulties even though they have permits to enter Israel. They often miss a day of work because of the checkpoint, so depressing.  We approached two soldiers, a man and a woman who were standing next to some cement blocks checking those entering the village to make sure that all had permits and very soon the line emptied out  behind which was a metal gate similar to the gate at the entrance to Jubara. After a short conversation with the soldeirs we were glad to go home.


 

  • 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)

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  • 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.  
      זעתרא (צומת תפוח). שלטים
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