Haris, Huwwara
11:00 We meet A., from Hars.
Irit: A. is opposed both to the occupation and to violence by Palestinians. For years he’s been a social activist involved with problems related to the occupation. He’s also an expert on Moslem historical and holy sites on the West Bank in general and in Kifl Harth in particular. I asked him for names of people to contact near the Alon Moreh settlement whose territory includes the Sheikh Bilal maqam, access where is denied to Palestinians. We also discussed possible ways to make the Nabi Isma’il site, which isn’t included in the settlement’s territory, accessible to villagers in the area.
He told us about the summer camp for young Palestinian women released from Israeli prisons that he was involved in organizing and running. It was held a few days before the beginning of the school year. It helped them overcome the stress caused by their imprisonment.
Chana Zohar learned from her conversation with A. that in the past, there was closer cooperation between Kav LaOved and activities in support of rights of Palestinian workers in large firms on the West Bank. They agreed to strengthen their cooperation. A. will be updated regarding developments and new regulations that Kav LaOved manages to implement on behalf of the workers. A more direct connection has now been established between Kav LaOved and A., who is committed to assisting the Palestinian workers.
A. updated us regarding new roadblocks at Huwwara.
Nurit:
12:30 We drove to Huwwara because of what A. told us. Soldiers were stationed at all the hitchhiking locations at Za’tara junction. A group of 8-10 soldiers got out of a vehicle and entered the compound at the junction.
13:00 The entrance to Huwwara.
Residents said access roads from the main highway to villages in the area have been blocked for about five days.
The junction to Beita is blocked by a mound of boulders, construction rubble and concrete blocks. The army left a narrow footpath. Cars park on both sides of the barrier – stuck, unable to continue. Goods being transported remain in the cars. The barrier imposes hardships on many aspects of daily life. People are frustrated and angry. They don’t understand the reason for the barrier. They must go to work and errands on foot. A teacher told us she must now walk a long way to the school where she teaches. Her daughters, pupils in that school, walk with her.
The junction to Einabus is also blocked. Huge concrete cubes sit in an orderly row across the width of the road. But the army is considerate: while cars can’t go through, there’s room between the cubes for people on foot.
Rumor has it that the Burin junction is also blocked.
As we passed Za’tara junction on our way back a truck before us was loaded with large, black plastic water tanks, the kind installed on rooftops. I photographed the truck. A soldier in the booth at the junction saw me with the camera, stopped us and wanted to know what we were doing. He warned us that it’s a military junction and photography is forbidden. I was afraid he’d confiscate the camera.
Yesterday we were informed by a friend from Burin that the roadblocks had been removed two days earlier, because of the holiday.
Haris
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Haris
The village has 4,500 people and they have 5,000 dunams of land. The entrance to the village is blocked and opened arbitrarily, without informing the residents.The village has a seasonal checkpoint that blocks the road to the agricultural land and this checkpoint opens once a year! 2,500-3,000 dunams were stolen from the village in order to build the settlements of Revava and Netafim, which are located west of Haris.
The center of the village is Area B and around Area C. The population grows but the occupation does not permit new construction in Area C.
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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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