Beit Furik, Huwwara, Za’tara (Tapuah), Wed 27.2.08, Morning
Translation: Rachel B.
General Comment: There are mobile units of the army in action at the exits from the villages.
Zeita: 7:36 AM
The entrance continues to be blocked with sheets of metal and cement blocks. Across the road, next to the barrier, there is an army Jeep with soldiers in it. When we passed through again at 10:15 AM the Jeep was no longer there.
Za'tara: 7:42 AM
No cars approaching from the west. From the north –
7:45 AM While we arrived at the checkpoint, a third processing station is opened. A bus is sent to the parking lot and its passengers will have to wait while their documents are checked.
We were not there observing for very long before the Reserve Duty soldiers and the Officer, who introduce himself as the checkpoint commander, approached us and demanded rather aggressively that we leave and go to the other side of the fence in the parking lot. "I am the commander of the checkpoint and you are interfering with my work," he said, despite the fact that we had not approached anyone there. Rather, we stood on the paved path near the checkpoint positions and just observed. Again, the argument given is that this is a military zone. Our counter-argument is that this is a zone where there are civilians. We saw no point in getting into a discussion and started to move away.
We inquired if there is a "segregation" in effect. "Why on earth would I give you such information?" he said, "If it were up to me, I would place you in segregation." The soldier next to the commander repeated the same thing. The cat is out of the bag: we are not interfering with their work or anything of that sort. We checked to see if we can lodge an official complaint against him for expressing political opinions beyond his authority and while on duty. The problem is there is no one to complain to.
7:51 AM We counted 15 cars waiting in the lien from the north.
Beita: 8:00 AM
At the entrance to Beita there is an army Jeep parked sideways across the road and checking all passengers in vehicles coming in and out of the village.
At 10:40 AM the jeep was no longer there and the entrance to the village was open.
Huwwara: 8:11 AM
Life is stronger than anything. People have to make a living. The parking lot and the traffic islands are filled with vegetable, falafel, and schwarma stalls, as well as drinks for sale. Whatever you need…
At the checkpoint itself there is a dog handler (not working while we were there), a scanner (operating) and three stations for pedestrians. Two sanitation workers wearing reflective vests with "Caution on the Road" on the front and Sanitation Worker" on the back, lest you be confused about who they are.
8:30 AM Two men are led by the soldiers to a Hummer parked next to the Humanitarian Station. It turns out that they drove on the "Apartheid Road" and the order the checkpoint commander has for such situations is to confiscate their ID cards. He is planning to hold their ID cards until 11 AM. Our protest about this confiscation gets the response of: What's the preferred option – to place them in the detention pen or let them roam around in the parking lot, or make them sit in their car (until they get their ID cards back)?
It is apparent that here they have not heard for the prohibition on confiscating ID cards and detention as a form of punishment.
From a conversation with the detainees it emerges that one of them is a vegetable seller who has a permit to go into Israel (excepting Eilat). In other words, the man can go anywhere in Israel but on the road right next to his home, he cannot go. E., the District Coordinating Office Commander, pulls out the "ace in the hole:" He can, indeed, go into Israel, but without a car, and here {on the road forbidden to Palestinians} he was traveling in a car. In any case, he has probably already missed the court hearing for a relative in the Court in Ofer, where he wanted to go.
When we came back from Beit Furik we saw that the two detainees were no longer there. We called them at about 10:20 am and it turned out that they had been released.
During the whole time we were at the Huwwara checkpoint people went into Nablus without being checked. The line of people coming out of the city was at the most 30 people at a time. The checking involved removing belts and taking everything out of the pockets. Once in a while, a car arrived going into Nablus and was checked through quickly. In the line of cars coming out of Nablus there were no particular delays either, despite the ritual of having the car stop 25 meters from the checkpoint station, people getting out of the car, the car approaching the checkpoint, checking, the passengers then re-entering the car and them continuing on their way.
Beit Furik: 9:39 AM
There are 7 cars in line to enter Nablus. The man at the coffee stall tells us that an hour and a half before we arrived there was a very long line of cars but a representative from the District Coordination Office arrived and arranged for speedy processing.
At the checkpoint there are 2 stations for pedestrians entering the town. Once in a while cars are checked at the same time.
We left Beit Furik at 10 AM.
In the village of Huwwara the grocery store owner told us that in the morning soldiers came by and took down his information. The man is in despair. The word "hope" only increases his despair even more. The merchandise in the store is meager and since morning he has not sold anything.
Za'tara north: 10:45 AM
There are 2 stations and 10 cars in line.
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)
.
Shoshi AnbarMay-18-2025Huwara: The old houses in Area C
-
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.
Shoshi AnbarSep-27-2023Za'atra (Tapuah Intersection). Signs
-