Beit Iba, Huwwara, Za’tara (Tapuah), Mon 8.9.08, Morning
Translator: Charles K.
Za'tara:
Very light traffic, perhaps because it's early (7:30 am). The checkpoint is manned by reservists. They're mainly checking documents. An Israeli man comes over to us for help. He employs three Palestinians. He and they have all the necessary permissions. When he arrived at the checkpoint he went through the lane for Israelis (he called it the lane for Palestinian VIP's!), and was stopped by the soldiers who took his (blue) ID card and told him that he'll be detained for three hours. He was very angry – "What is this – I'm Jewish and Israeli and they take my ID and punish me." We explained the "laws" of the occupation to him, and left him to deal with things on his own.
Beit Iba: (8:45)
Very light pedestrian traffic. Those going to Nablus are mainly pupils and students. Two or three mothers with babies in their arms. Two trucks passed through quickly, and the rest of the vehicle traffic also goes through very fast. The only explanation must be that people are much less busy during Ramadan. The kiosks were closed. The carpentry shop also only opened up about when we left.
Huwwara: (10:00)
The checkpoint is almost empty. Very little vehicle traffic, and the parking lot isn't full. The drivers complained very much – Ramadan is a hard month for them, even though business isn't flourishing the rest of the year either.
Women in Blue and White:
This time they showed up in two cars. One was the small car of the woman in the black hat (I forgot her name), and the other the 4×4 station wagon pulling a trailer. They stopped inside the checkpoint and a huge man came out of the large car, connected an electrical cable to the soldiers' booth, opened one side of the vehicle and turned it into a kiosk. The man stood inside and the soldiers came up to the window to receive the largesse. Lots of hugs and backslapping. There were four other women besides the madwoman and the man in the kiosk. Once again they distributed the handout slandering us to the soldiers, and little flags – white ones this time. They began to move quickly from place to place with the refreshments and the drinks. The soldiers left their "posts" and ran over to the improvised kiosk to enjoy the bounty.
After everyone had finished eating and drinking, it was our turn. The madwoman in the hat came over to us and began running wild. We had decided ahead of time not to get in an argument with her, and deserve a medal for adhering to this. We didn't utter a word. She, on the other hand, gave a real show. Curses (Nazis, madmen, scum, etc.), and a lesson in "history" and in the facts of life. Then she began kicking the wall on our right and on our left. Like a child throwing a tantrum. Then she spit on the wall (not on us, thankfully). Then kicking and cursing again. Meanwhile the reinforcements appeared – the man tried "politely" to convince Yehudit that her behavior was criminal. When English didn't help, they tried Hebrew – and when she got tired another one showed up cursing. Of course they photographed us from every angle. The madwoman in the hat remembered she had met me during an incident in which a boy "carrying pipes" was caught for the benefit of Knesset members, and was home three hours later. She immediately remembered that I was to blame and was encouraging the terrorists. "Human rights – go to India and do your human rights there." "They're not human," etc. The whole performance lasted about an hour. The soldiers, of course, enjoyed it very much – one female MP even felt the need to hug the woman in the hat, but the Palestinians didn't laugh at all. When we left they made sure to tell us they saw it all, and heard, and that they're Nazis. I had the feeling they were afraid something would happen to us.
Tarek, the DCO representative, was the only officer we saw. He stood off to the side and, of course, didn't intervene. When we told him we were planning to complain about him he got scared, and when the women left tried to explain "the facts of life" to us – why the soldiers hate us and love them. The explanation wasn't necessary – we weren't born yesterday (unfortunately). We had intended also to drive to Beit Furik – but since the madmen were on their way there we decided at 12:00 to return home.
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.
Jun-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)
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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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