Hawwara & Beit Furiq
Hawwara, Beit Furiq, 24.8.05, AMWatchers: Tushka K., Mor G., Nina S.(reporting)Guests: Chagai and Lior7.50 – 10.40 We did not stop at Tapuach junction in “fear “of the settlers. Huwwara functions as always. We checked how long it takes cars to get through. At the beginning there were many buses so passage was very slow and it took 50 minutes. When the buses passed the passage was “speeded” up to 35 minutes wait. Beit Furiq too is as usual. On the way back there was a flying checkpoint north of Yzhar junction.Huwwara – Mor and our guests stayed there all the time. Car passage is very slow though there are 2 lines open, but all the buses have to take the right lane as all parcels are going through the screening machine. This is true for all parcels from private cars too.A cab with passengers from Ramalla, going hom,e is stopped and not allowed to leave Nablus It is not apparent why, but after Mor’s intervention they are allowed to continue homewards.A guy, whose ID card has been confiscated, the day before, at Kufer Amin has on him an army form that says so and invites him to pick it up today. There seems to be a discrepancy between his name and number on the computer and he is refused passage. Further talks and a call to his father clear the matter and he is allowed to continue on his way to retrieve his ID. We hope he was successful. It seems the army has a special form for confiscation ID’s – so? Since when is the army empowered to confiscate ID’s?When we arrived trade in the southern checkpoint seemed as usual. About 9 a jeep arrived and told the traders to disappear for 2 days. Why? Why not? A soldier told me that the traders pester the settlers in the nearby bus stop and he saw one pestering a girl settler there. Well, here we found another way in which the settlers can get at the poor ones. When we left, the sellers of cooked food were there. It seems only the traders that settled the empty southern checkpoint were banned.8.30 – 8.50- Tushka and Nina went to Beit Furiq. There is sparse passage, through the Turnstiles without special events. No separation or closure.At tapuach, on our way in, there were 30 cars in the queue. When we came back there were only 7. Maybe because of the flying checkpoint that was opened in the meantime north of Huwwara and Yzhar junction. This meant every car, that has been checked at Huwwara or left the car park there with passengers that have been checked, was checked again after 500 meters!We called the DCO and complained profusely. They said they will check and then said it was connected to the disengagement and will be cancelled soon. Only the settler’s god may understand how checking the Palestinians may help with the disengagement.
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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