Habla, Hawara, Beit Furik: One righteous man in Sodom as desperation grows
13.30 Habla checkpoint
The gate opened on time. A convoy of vehicles is waiting from the direction of the village of Habla.
We stood near the gate as the soldiers started their inspections,. A soldier approached us and asked what we were doing here. We said – we are looking at how the checkpoint is being run. He asked if we thought it was doing OK. We answered that there shouldn’t be a checkpoint here at all. To our surprise, he agreed and said quietly: I am a leftist.
14.30 Hawara
At the checkpoint, vehicles are inspected in both directions, and this is how long lines of cars were formed.
15.00 Beit Furik
Here, too, the situation at the checkpoint is terrible. Vehicle inspections in both directions cause long lines and slow passage in the heavy heat. People are desperate.
We got out of the car to take pictures. We stood some distance away, we did not enter the checkpoint. A soldier in the guard tower recognized us and called to us over the loudspeaker: “Girls get in the car.” When we disobeyed his calls (we wanted to take pictures), he shouted: If you don’t get in the car I will close the checkpoint. One of the taxi drivers came to us on his own accord and politely asked us to get out. They’ll keep us stuck in this heat until tonight, he said. We got into the car and took pictures from it.
We continued to Beit Dajan. The entrance to the village is blocked by rocks and it is not possible to enter. Another new checkpoint between Madama and Kfar Tel, north of Madama. There is also a checkpoint near Deir Sharaf (Beit Iba). A checkpoint at Jit junction for those entering and leaving Nablus through the village of Sara.
So much turmoil, with people are yelling and despairing.
At the entrance to Beita there is a position manned by soldiers.
The village of Hawara: The space between every two or three buildings is manned by soldiers. On the roofs of two four-story buildings, near the square, stand soldiers with cocked rifles. Three cars were parked near one of the buildings as their owners went shopping. The soldiers shouted at them to remove the vehicles immediately because parking is prohibited in this area.
On the road from the square towards the village of Inabus, an iron gate was erected and soldiers open and close it whenever they want.
At 16.50 we left.
Beit Furik checkpoint
See all reports for this place-
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)
-
Habla
See all reports for this place-
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
-
Huwwara
See all reports for this place-
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 AkfaApr-25-2025Huwara: traffic jam on the main road
-
