Beit Furik, Huwwara, Za’tara (Tapuah), Wed 19.11.08, Afternoon
Natanya translating.
14.35 Crossroads of Za'tara. 6 cars from north to south.
14.45 Huwwara.
Two checking posts. Comparatively short lines. The x-ray machine is working.
15.00. Because of a change in shift the line of cars from Nablus is closed and 7 cars are in line.
15.15 The car lane opens and there are 9 cars waiting to enter Nablus. There is a strike at the university so there is little movement.
16.15 Beit Furik.
2 detainees in the cell. The commander demands that we move off and stand at the cement blocks. We refuse and he says that he will summon the police and closes the checkpoint.
There are some high ranking officers receiving a briefing from the brigade commander and we complain but he is not bothered and says that the orders to stand outside the checkpoint are his but he also says that it is forbidden to close the cbeckpoint.
The car of the detainees is at the side of the road and the lights are on. We ask the commander to allow the driver to switch them off but he refuses. We complain to the brigade commander and the commander is scolded and the detainees freed. The man who is a veterinary from Nablus did not know that he was not allowed to travel on "the road of Yitamar" and therefore had been detained for an hour and a half. The driver says that each day he waits nearly an hour to an hour and a half at the entrance to Nablus. He lives there and his wife in Beit Dejan. The brigade commander says that this is fine,.
A Palestinian says that a young woman from Jordan has come to live in Beit Furik. She has a permit that she went to the Ministry of the Interior in Nablus so as to get an ID as a resident of Beit Furik. The soldiers do not allow her to pass. We complain to the centre and to the brigade commander. The officers leave and it is not clear what happened to the woman. The soldiers send the cars through very slowly. An army jeep arrives maybe because of our complaint to the centre. The Palestinians come out and shout to us to go and see what is happening at the checkpoint. They are very angry and we do not know what is happening. Many people are stuck at the checkpoint. The soldiers in the jeep photograph us. We stand at the end of the cement blocks and a soldier comes up to demand our details which we refuse to give him . He keeps photographing us and saying "Yes yes I am photographing them."
17.10 The checkpoint is full. Pedestrains and cars pass very slowly. We leave with a very bad feeling that maybe our presence had only slowed things up and that we could not help or interfere so as to improve anything. There is no way that we can carry out our task at Beit Furik.
17.30 Za'tara. 15 cars from 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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