Burin: soldiers come down to the center of the village and shoot in the air
13:20 – Nabi Elias, Azzun – the gate near the roundabout between Azzun, Izbat Tabib and Nabi Elias was closed because of the closure on Azzun – not enabling Azzun inhabitants to exit.
Azzun has been fenced in anew, a watchtower has been erected, posts added, with soldiers holding pointed rifles.
13:30 – two military posts at the entrance and exit.
Jit Junction – entering Nablus through Sara village was closed. At the right turn to the road leading to Havat Gil’ad and Yitzhar there is a permanent checkpoint now for people entering and exiting and many soldiers. We saw no Palestinian vehicles in the area.
14:00 – Huwara – Like a ghost town, all shops closed except for the bakery. The street was empty of people, only a group of soldiers walking and a jeep patrolling the street. All along the main street were posts of soldiers with pointed guns on both directions. Soldiers were posted on the roof of one of the buildings.
We continued to Huwara Checkpoint – it was closed. We did notice that the old checkpoint was lit up and several military vehicles and soldiers were nearby.
Awarta – the checkpoint near the house north of the road was open, there was vehicle crowding because of the thorough inspections: passengers are ordered down and undergo body checks.
Beit Furik – the checkpoint was open, many soldiers present, and many Palestinian cars waiting for inspection. We didn’t even totally stop our car, on the roadside, when two soldiers ran to us, asked who we were and what we were doing. Chidingly they said we should watch over them too… They asked for our IDs. We gave them, the men asked where we live and when I said Tirah, one of the soldiers said that we were neighbors – he lives in Moshav Porat. Then they took our photos and when we asked why, one of them said “as a souvenir”, and asked us to leave.
Burin – We drove to Abu Asid’s house, located very close to Givat Ronen outpost, very frequently harassed by the settlers. Above the hill near the house, a group of soldiers settles in a house whose owners abandoned it because of settlers harassment. The soldiers give the family no peace, forbid them to go out of the house, even to the yard. They keep watching them with their cameras – the house owners too have placed cameras and CC television. The house looks like a jail with iron doors and three layers of bars on the windows. At night the soldiers turn on laser lighting which disturbs the house owners’ sleep. A real nightmare.
Soldiers come down to the center of the village at night, and shoot in the air. So people are afraid to leave their homes at night. After leaving Abu Asid’s house, we went to the home of our friend Doha – she told us about the olive “harvest” – the entire crop remained unharvested and the season is now over. While we sat there on the porch, we heard booms and shots, and she told us not to be frightened. It was the soldiers who walk around in the center of the village in the evening. We left around 17:00.
18:00 – Doha calls and tells me that the booms we heard from her house came from the nearby village of Madama. A friend from Madama called and told her that the soldiers entered the village, fired, hurled smoke grenades, entered shops, trashed them, closed them, entered homes and brutally threw everything on the ground, arresting 4 youngsters.
'Awarta
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Awarta, an internal checkpoint in the heart of the West Bank, is located east of the Hawara checkpoint, at the junction of Roads 555 (which was forbidden for Palestinian traffic in this area) and the entrance road to Nablus. It was one of the four checkpoints that surrounded Nablus until 2009. We used to watch it at Huwwara shifts because it was the only one where goods could be transferred to and from Nablus, using the back-to-back method. It was operated by the army, from 06:00 to 20:00. Until 2009.
Ronit Dahan-RamatiDec-12-2023Awarta: a long line of cars
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'Azzun
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Azoun (updated February 2019)
A Palestinian town situated in Area B (under civil Palestinian control and Israeli security control),
on road 5 between Nablus and Qalqiliya, east of Nabi Elias village. The inhabitants are allowed to construct and improve infrastructures. The Separation Fence has confiscated lands belonging to the town's people. In 2018 olive tree groves owned by one of its inhabitants were confiscated for the sake of paving a road to bypass Nabi Elias. Azoun population numbers 13,000, its economic state dire. Its infrastructures are poor, neglect and poverty rampant. In the meantime, the town council has completed paving an internal road for the inhabitants' welfare.
Because of its proximity to the Jewish settler-colony of Karnei Shomron and its outposts, the town suffers the intense presence of the Israeli army, especially at nighttime: soldiers enter homes, arrest suspects, trash the house and sometimes ruin it, as they do in numerous places in the West Bank. At times a checkpoint closes the entrance to the town, so no one can come in or get out.
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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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Burin (Yitzhar)
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Burin (Yitzhar)
This is a Palestinian village in the Nablus governorate, a little south of Nablus, on the main road passing through the West Bank. The settlements: Yitzhar and Har Bracha, settled in locations that surrounded the village, placed fences so it is cut off the main road.
There are around 4000 inhabitants. Most of them are engaged in agriculture and pasture, although many graduates of the two secondary schools continue to study at the university. Academic positions are hardly available, they find work as builderd, or leave for the Gulf countries.
The village lands were appropriated several times for the establishment of Israeli settlements and military bases, and as a result, Burin's land and water resources dwindled. lSince 1982, more than 2,000 dunams of village land have been declared "state land" and then transferred to Har Bracha settlement.
Over the past few years and more so since 2017, the villagers have been terrorized by the residents of Yitzhar and Har Bracha, the Givat Ronen outpost and others. Despite the close proximity of soldiers to an IDF base close to one of the village's schools, residents are suffering from numerous stone-throwing events, vehicle and fire arson, also reported in the press.
In 2023, the prevention of the olive harvest in the village plot was more violent than ever. Soldiers and settlers walked with drawn weapons between the houses of the village and demanded that people stop harvesting in the village itself and in the private plots outside the village. The settlers from Yitzhar and Giv'at Roned raided the olive groves and stole crops. 300 olive trees belonging to the residents of Burin, near Yitzhar, were uprooted. The loss of livelihood from the olives causes long-term economic damage to the farmers' families, bringing them to the point of starvation.
(updated for November 2023)
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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 AkfaDec-12-2023Huwara: traffic jam on the main road
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