Checkpoint tour at central West Bank
Everything is sad and shut, the exit from most villages to main roads is closed, in others it is supervised. A kind of on hold, or restriction of life.
We entered the West Bank through the Tzufin crossing without stopping from Eyal Checkpoint that was empty and quiet.
From Izbat Tabib cars are seen driving towards Azzun, but the entrance to Azzun from the main road is closed by two gates. There is traffic but very sparse. No shops in Funduq village are open. Everywhere, the Israeli army observes the sparse activity taking place.
The checkpoint at the entrance to Nablus through Sara is manned, and soldiers inspect cars coming from Jish and Funduq and then let them pass because there is a gate, and the goings-on there are unclear. A friend, Palestinian citizen of Israel, reports that when driving to Nablus she had to go through Deir Sharaf and even there she went through a checkpoint, but at least it was possible.
Entering Nablus through the notorious Huwarra Checkpoint is totally prevented by gates, and whoever wishes to reach Nablus from Road 60 northward must go through the Awarta Checkpoint. There cars have to be inspected or monitored. There were cars in line, progress was very slow.
Beit Furiq Checkpoint is open but supervised. There is a single lane so every time several cars are allowed from one direction, the others coming from the opposite direction have to wait.
We went through Huwarra to the entrance to Beita and back. Half of the shops and eating places were closed. Mostly garages were opened, and contained cars, probably undergoing work. There are hardly any pedestrians on the road or cars, but slightly more than there were two weeks ago. The settlers travel the new bypass road that is amazing in its size, height, and power – opened for them alone.
We continued to Burin village, to visit Doha who welcomed us warmly. After eating and drinking, we went to see and visit a family – one of the few – who lives on the other side (south side) of the main road leading from Jit to Huwarra. In order to get to them, one has to cross the main road under the bridge. Our driver stopped here because of a flooding under the road and his fear to get stuck. Apparently, he wouldn’t because the area is paved but he could have run into the spikes that our ‘friends’ leave there at times, and would be very sorry, and so would his tires be.
We ascended to the family home at the end of our line. We visited there about a year ago and documented how their vehicles had been vandalized with stones and olive trees near them incinerated. Now the area is closed off. Their compound is now surrounded by a wall with a fence over it. There are two strong locked gates and the windows are covered with netting. All this in order to prevent damages by thrown stones. So now the settlers place stones on the road under the bridge and throw spikes on the way, to damage the cars.
The Palestinians are living under siege, truly. We were still glad to see the trees, chickens and a handsome rooster in the yard, and people’s smiles in spite of it all.
After a conversation and explanations, we descended to our car but stopped at a house mid-way down. The settlers came there a few days ago and burnt the car standing in the yard.
We drove home tired and sad.
'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-RamatiFeb-04-2024Awarta: 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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'Izbet a-Tabib
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'Izbet a-Tabib
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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)
.Shoshi AnbarMay-18-2025Huwara: The old houses in Area C
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