Eliyahu Crossing, Habla, Huwwara, Shomron Crossing, Wed 4.5.11, Afternoon
Translator: Charles K.
13:05 Habla
The gate opens on time. The bus with the girl pupils crosses after inspection by a soldier and a female MP. Donkey and horse carts, and a few Palestinians. A boy on a donkey, without a permit, is detained. He came this morning with his father, and he doesn’t have a permit. After a short conversation with him, they let him through.
Very hot and muggy.
13:00 Eliyahu crossing – Traffic flows without delays.
13:40 Izbat at Tabib – Unfortunately, the head of the village isn’t home. His family hosts us. His daughter speaks English, and says: Monday night the family had foreign guests. Soldiers showed up at 4 AM and made everyone get out of the house and stand outside in the cold. One of the soldiers asked the guests, “Do you speak English?”
Answer: “A little; why do you ask?”
Soldier: “Shut up. I’m in charge here, I decide, I have a gun.”
She doesn’t have many details about what occurred in the village.
We leave phone numbers and say goodbye to this pleasant family.
15:00 Za’tara/Tapuach junction – We meet P., from Akraba, who must sign a power of attorney. Two armed soldiers appear immediately to see what’s going on. Who are you? Who’s he? What’s going on? Etc. I tell him we’re meeting a friend. They peek over P.’s shoulder to read what’s in the document he’s holding. We hurry to leave and see that P. hadn’t signed the power of attorney. On the way to Huwwara we meet again to get his signature, this time not in the soldiers’ presence.
15:05 Huwwara – Soldiers watch from the towers. An armored vehicle in the parking lot. No inspections at the crossing. All the vehicles are Palestinian, no Israeli license plates.
We ask at the falafel stand where was the school that YNET reported had been burned on Tuesday.
16:30 Shomron crossing – We’re stopped for questioning. They take the passports of our two guests, and our ID cards. We’re told to park off to the right and asked who our guests are, what are they doing in Israel, where were we, what did we do, did we get out of the car. We say that we showed Samaria to our friends. The students have to go over to the inspection booth. Ten minutes later the passports and ID’s are returned, and we continue on our way home.
Eliyahu CP (109) / Crossing
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Eliyahu CP (109) / Crossing This checkpoint, also known as the Fruit Crossing, is one of the main checkpoints between Israel and the West Bank. It is located on Route 55 between Alfei Menashe and the turn to Qalqilya and Zufin, more than 4 km east of the Green Line, in the separation fence, which separates Qalqilya from its lands to the south, thus leaving Alfei Menashe West of the fence - the Seam Zone. This checkpoint, a few kilometers across the Green Line, is intended for "Israeli settlement in the West Bank and the population of the Seam Zone." It is managed by a civil company. Palestinians with a special permit for their lands in the seam area are also allowed to pass through it, on foot, and sometimes by car.
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Habla
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Habla CP (1393)
The Habla checkpoint (1393) was established on the lands of the residents of Qalqilya, on the short road that
connected it for centuries to the nearby town of Habla. The separation barrier intersects this road twice and cut off the residents of Qalqilya from their lands in the seam zone.(between the fence and the green line).
There is a passage under Road 55 that connects Qalqilya to the sabotage This agricultural barrier is used by the farmers and nursery owners established along Road 55 from the Green Line and on both sides of the kurkar road leading to the checkpoint.
This agricultural checkpoint serves the residents of Arab a-Ramadin al-Janoubi (detached from the West Bank), who pass through it to the West Bank and back to their homes. The opening hours (3 times a day) of this agricultural checkpoint are longer than usual, about an hour (recently shortened to 45 minutes), and are coordinated with the transportation hours of a-Ramadin children studying in the occupied in the West Bank.Ronit Dahan-RamatiApr-25-2025Habla Checkpoint: system of gates
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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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Shomron Crossing
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Shomron Crossing The Shomron checkpoint for vehicles. is located east of Rosh HaAyin and Kafr Qassem, on Road 5 (Trans-Samaria) leading to Ariel and the Za'atara junction. It is intended for blue ID cardholders, foreign guests or diplomats, and international organizations only. In 2009 the management was entrusted to a civil security company.Nava EisenNov-9-2008Shomron crossing checkpoint 23.10.08
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