Burin (Yitzhar), Huwwara, Za’tara (Tapuah), Thu 17.4.08, Afternoon
14.50 We stopped next to the south-western gate of Marda so as to make our guest acquainted with the iron gate which has been strengthened as much as possible by barbed wire and also with the difference between Ariel and Marda. An elderly couple neared the gate and to our astonishment we saw that there was a "hole" where a person could pass. 
Tamar helps to get a piece of the woman's dress out of the barbed wire. It may be that by this revelation we may destroy the possibility in the future of residents of Marda to leave the village to catch a taxi to visit a doctor in Nablus. That is to say that they will not have to use the official gate near the entrance of Zeita).
15.03 At Zeita the entrance has been closed for two months by cement blocks and on them an iron gate. The entrance to Marda is open.
Zaatra (Tapuah) has 40 cars waiting to enter Nablus. At the beginning they are checked at one post and then a second is opened. One of the guards is eating sunflower seeds. A female settler has made herself at home as usual on the side. A settler wanders around the posts and inside them giving the soldiers Passover goodies. We ask K. from the Army Humanitarian Centre to open another post.
15.35 At the wholesale market in Beita there is no army presence and Burin-Yizhar is also empty.
One detainee in the isolation and with his hands handcuffed behind him.
The commander appears and hisses through his teeth , "Get away from here." When I ask why the man is handcuffed he says that he does not have to answer. Daphne says that Hashem of the DCO says that the man cheeked the commander but that he is not handcuffed and will soon be free. She goes to see if this is so and the commander arrives and says that he has summoned the police. He also says that the man is not detained because he was cheeky but he will not tell her why.
16.24 We phone K at the Army Humanitarian Centre and he says he will try to find out what the reason is and that maybe the man is handcuffed because he acted in a certain way and was thought to be dangerous. He is still handcuffed and in isolation. Tamar goes to the isolation and the commander says that it is locked and says that she is forbidden to be there. She asks "For what reason?" and he says, "I am the reason."
Two members of the ecumenical team are also present and say that there is no pressure of cars leaving or entering Nablus. There is no dog trainer. There is an x-ray machine and 3 checking areas for the young people leaving Nablus most of whom are students going home for the weekend. There is a humanitarian line. The DCO representative is not doing anything. A young man turns to him and says that his uncle has just come back from hospital and asks that he help to get him through but the DCO answers speaking over his head indifferently saying he will help and doing nothing.
17.00 He promised to find out why the man is being detained and has also done nothing.
17.02 Soldiers of the special unit for dispersing demonstrations arrive and ask why they have been called in and it turns out it is because of us. They consult amongst themselves and phone. At 17.21 K of the Humanitarian Centre does not know why the man is handcuffed or detained and is waiting for a reply from the DCO.
17.22. We look into the isolation cell and the man is still handcuffed. His relations arrive and say that he is a student from Haris who passes each day without a problem and they do not understand what happened. Next to the turnstile at the entrance to Nablus is a problem. They want to take in children's bicycles but they cannot do so through the turnstiles therefore they lift them over the turnstiles and the barbed wire. That is the way to do it in Nablus.
17.30 The commander and the police are still discussing what to do. Tamar speaks to the police and they ask for our IDs. The commander has decided to make a complaint about us. A police van arrives from Ariel.
18.00 The detained man is freed and now K says that he was detained because he was rude to the commander.
18.57 Zaatra. 30 cars from the north waiting to be checked and the Centre says that they will see if another checking post can be opened.
Next to the church which is closed in Zeita is a command car. A little way from Marda is a military jeep and 3 soldiers with pointed weapons are checking a private car. It seems that the driver stopped a few kilometers earlier at the side of the road so that they checking him. He is freed. In the meantime more soldiers in a Hummer and a command car arrive and warn us that at Marda stones are being thrown on the road. We saw nothing. At the Shomron gate we saw no detainees and hope that all have got home in time.
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)
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Fathiya AkfaApr-17-2008Huwara: traffic jam on the main road
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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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