Beit Iba, Huwwara, Mon 16.6.08, Afternoon
A phenomenon that is frequently repeated was also evident during
this shift. Female soldiers – who might be expected to have a moderating effect, to be more sensitive in their presence at the checkpoint – turn out to behave in a stereotypically masculine manner: rudeness, aggressiveness, impudence and force for its own sake.
As long as the checkpoints exist it is necessary, at least, to teach the young soldiers that the checkpoints aren't their own private property, certainly not an arena in which they're able to show off how powerful they are, but rather a public place. As part of their job, they should behave with respect to everyone with whom they come into contact. Otherwise, they'll bring about the distorted view the world is shown by their behavior into Israeli society, along with the behavioral norms they acquired during military service
14:35 – 50 people in two lines in the pedestrian lanes, the regular line and the "humanitarian" line. There's a new DCO representative there – Wafed. One detainee in the pen. We ask why he's been detained, and the soldier tells us that he was fresh, dirtying the ground at the checkpoint. We asked how long he'd be detained; the soldier promised it wouldn't be long. He was released after 25 minutes.
14:50 – Light traffic at the vehicle checkpoint – about six in each direction. I timed how long it took to exit – 20 minutes.
In the other line a porter waits patiently until three soldiers arrive. They examine three melons, a small fan and two small sacks, and release him. A taxi arrives, on the way to Nablus, with six male passengers. They get out, and the dog is ready to check the taxi. I stand about 6 meters away. The dog handler – a small female soldier with a long ponytail – strides over to me, trying to appear masculine, and asks me: "What's your name?" I replied, "And what's your name?", but she refused to answer, saying "It doesn't matter. So long as you're standing here, they're not going anywhere." Her answer in fact annoyed me. Even if she wanted to ask me to move back, why didn't she ask directly, instead of using the passengers to threaten me. I answered: I moved over here exactly because I wanted to see what was happening to the taxi and the passengers. She repeated her threat. I replied angrily, reproaching her for employing the power she was given against helpless Palestinians, using women older than she, who did nothing to her. She should be ashamed.
She left and started working with the dog, who went into the trunk, the back seat, the front seat, climbed over the seats, and ten minutes later checking was finished. In the meantime I moved away, in the direction of the pedestrian lane, and watched from a distance.
15:30 All the pedestrians in the entry lane are checked. About ten people, most of them looking very tired, like wretched laborers, waiting to be checked a few meters away from the window. They almost never used to check people coming in to Nablus. At Huwwara there are no checks at all of people coming in, and anyone may enter. Why isn't it dangerous to let people come into Nablus at Huwwara without being checked, but it is dangerous at Beit Iba?
The god of the checkpoints has the answers.
16:00 At the entrance to the pedestrian lane a group of youths grin at us: "Welcome to Palestine" [in English].
Beit Iba
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A perimeter checkpoint west of the city of Nablus. Operated from 2001 to 2009 as one of the four permanent checkpoints closing on Nablus: Beit Furik and Awarta to the east and Hawara to the south. A pedestrian-only checkpoint, where MachsomWatch volunteers were present daily for several hours in the morning and afternoon to document the thousands of Palestinians waiting for hours in long queues with no shelter in the heat or rain, to leave the district city for anywhere else in the West Bank. From March 2009, as part of the easing of the Palestinian movement in the West Bank, it was abolished, without a trace, and without any adverse change in the security situation.
Neta EfroniJun-4-2014Beit-Iba checkpoint 22.04.04
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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)
.Fathiya AkfaJun-4-2014Huwara: traffic jam on the main road
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