Burin (Yitzhar), Huwwara, Za’tara (Tapuah), Wed 8.4.09, Morning
Translator: Charles K.
The occupation routine continues at the checkpoints.
Harassment of peddlers at Huwwara continues: "There better not be any garbage at the checkpoint or in the parking lot" – the words of the army which is not only the most moral one in the world, but also the most concerned about the environment and about health.
(And the checkpoints – what category do they fall into?)
7:15 We pass Marda – the gate is open.
Zeita: The exit from the village to Route 5 is still blocked by concrete cubes.
7:17 Za'tara:
10 vehicles on line, some go through without being inspected. Inspecting a car takes less than half a minute.
7:21 Beita: Two army jeeps in the parking lot opposite the village. They're not checking anyone.
7:23 Burin/Yitzhar junction: An army jeep in the direction of Jit. No cars being inspected.
Huwwara
People leaving Nablus on foot:
7:30 The line for women and the elder is longer than usual. As usual, the DCO representative notes that people on that line are also being inspected because of an alert.
Ten minutes later the line is gone, and men and women go through quickly.
The line for men under 45: 45 people on line; two soldiers inspecting.
The Palestinians are already used to the inspection. They remove their belts while still on line. They take out their ID cards. They place their belongings on the wooden shelf, pass through the magnemometer, take their belongings over to the soldier's booth, push their ID card through the slit in the booth and bend down a few seconds later to retrieve it from the lower slit. Then they put their belt back on and leave the checkpoint area.
We timed how long it takes to go through:
7:37 10 people in one minute in two inspection lanes.
7:41 5 people in one minute.
7:48 6 people in one minute
According to a rough calculation, about 360-400 people go through the checkpoint in one hour, and about another 150 in the line for women and elderly.
How long does it take one person to go through: We timed a man from when he arrived at the checkpoint to see how long he spends there – 12 minutes in the morning, after the rush hour of people leaving Nablus was over.
People entering Nablus on foot:
Few people entering Nablus. A woman with a cart didn't wait long; A., the DCO representative, came over with a soldier and they unlocked the handicapped gate for her to go through.
Why do they need a turnstile at the entry, and a locked gate for the handicapped and people with carts?
Vehicles leaving Nablus;
2 inspection lanes leaving Nablus. The drivers aren't delayed for long.
15 cars inspected in 20 minutes – an average of a minute and a quarter per car.
Vehicles entering Nablus:
A barrier in the entry lane that cars have to go around. A., the DCO representative, someone stole a taxi and broke through the checkpoint. So now everyone is being punished?
8:15 We decide to look for the coffee seller, to have our morning coffee. We look for his car, which we saw when we arrived at the parking lot this morning. It isn't there.
The drivers tell us that a few minutes ago he was taken to be detained. He's in the pen. The few other peddlers have disappeared.
A Border Police jeep drives around the parking lot, looking for peddlers. We find A., the DCO representative, and try to find out why the coffee seller has been detained.
His answer: "They're not allowed to sell here." "Why?," we ask – "Why aren't the hundreds and thousands of people who go through every day not allowed to slake their thirst, like they would be able to do at any other central station?"
His answer: "They leave garbage. We suggested they hire someone for NIS 5 per day per peddler. But they didn't pay the person who cleaned up, so we're not letting them sell here."
Finally he has second thoughts and talks to the checkpoint commander, and the coffee seller is released. He says he can only clean around his car, and takes us over to show us what the army wants them to do – clean up all the piles of garbage that have piled up everywhere in the lot over the past few months.
The coffee seller cleans the area around his car and begins selling coffee. We left him a MachsomWatch card in case he has more problems.
We cut short our route – it's the eve of the holiday and we have to get back to Israel before traffic gets heavy.
9:00 Za'tara:
This time we see a line of about 30 cars going uphill on the road to the checkpoint. But they go through quickly – inspecting each one takes about half a minute.
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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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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