Haris, Huwwara, Shomron Crossing, Za’tara (Tapuah)
9:15 We entered the Palestinian territories through the Shomron crossing. At Haris junction a military jeep was standing by the bus-stop. We saw no activity around it.
At Za'tara /Tapuach Junction there were several Israeli police cars in the center. Here, too, we did not see any activity around the cars. At the bus-stop on the road to Ramallah (road 60), where settlers often wait for a bus or a ride, there was no one waiting. Two soldiers were standing and talking.
As Sawiya – is a large village on road 60. We stopped to talk to officials at the village council office. The head of the village council was not present. He is a teacher at the high school and was at work. Being head of the village council is a volunteer job with no salary. The two men who welcomed us into their office were working on the bookkeeping for the council. We asked them if the village had any recent problems with the Israeli settlers. "The fact that they are here is the problem," they said. "Sometimes they bother the farmers."
One of the main jobs of the village councils is to provide electricity for the residents. The electric meter in each home has a card – like the SIM card for the telephone. The residents pay a certain amount of money each month and then they have electricity for that month.
The high school in As Sawiya serves several villages. It is located right along road 60. Boys and girls both study at the school, but the classes and the yards are gender separated. There is a high wall which separates the school from road 60. While walking home from school students have been arrested by the army on the charge of throwing stones, whether it is true or not. Because road 60 is the main highway between Nablus and Ramallah, and many settlers travel it, the army wants the school to be moved away from the road. The Palestinians are sure that this is what motivates the on-going harassment of the students by the army. In February this year Machsom Watch received a request from A. M. of As Sawiya for assistance with the problem of the harassment of the students by the army. Have we done anything about that request? I don't know.
Three weeks ago the army entered the elementary school in As Sawiya and created a disturbance. We would have liked to talk with people at the school about their experiences, but that wasn't possible. Without prior permission from their Ministry of Education they may not speak with us. Education in the West Bank is possibly an area of interest for us to investigate.
We passed through Kfar Lipan. On the hills directly above the village are two built-up settlements and an outpost of caravans between them. The council building of Lipan was closed, so we had no one to talk to. Here, too, the council head is a volunteer. He teaches at a university, and works in the council in the evenings.
Yatma is a small village with a huge junk yard of old cars. On the edge of the village is an Israeli outpost. Actually the village is on three sides of the outpost. This is another area of possible investigation.
Star and Bucks We again passed Za'tara/Tapuach junction. In the center were two Israeli police cars, two jeeps of the military police, and some soldiers. One Israeli police car was checking a truck with an Israeli license plate.
At Huwarra checkpoint the traffic was flowing. In Huwarra we stopped to check out the new coffee shop named "Stars and Bucks". The shop has a nice sign – Star and Bucks, Howwara Coffee Now. And the area is enclosed in red plastic with windows. But it is closed and empty. A pity.
We left the territories through the Shomron crossing.
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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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.
Ronit Dahan-RamatiAug-21-2025Highway 505: Salute to the Hilltop Youth
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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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