Hawwara & Beit Furiq
Huwwara, Beit-Furiq, 31.8.05, AMWatchers: Tushka K. Miriam S. Nina S. (reporting)7.50 – 11.00All as usual, No closures and no flying checkpoints, just the drudgery of the occupation.Tapuach Junction 7.50: about 10 cars waiting in each direction. From the north passage is regular with checkups at the discretion of the soldiers. From the west it is the same. Huge land works at the junction, a new checkpoint?Huwwara 8.20: There are a lot of people passing in both directions, seems more then in the last times we were here. There are 4 detainees that arrived from Hebron in a cab and claim they are waiting for an hour. Talks to the commander to try and hurry up their checking were not successful. They were released between 9.15 – 9.40 (we were at Beit Furiq) to go back home as the cab was denied entrance to |Nablus. Maybe they went in as pedestrians, which they could do. There were a few more detainees but only for a few minutes. A group of youngsters were brought to the CP. They were caught, apparently, in a place they were not supposed to be. They were given their IDs and sent on their way. Seems they tried to get into Nablus.Between 10.00 and 10.30 there was a lot of pressure in the checkpoint. More soldiers were called to man the magnometers and pressure subsided.About 10.00 a man approached us and complained of a flying CP at El Badhan. This is on the eastern road from Jenin to Nablus, just before Nablus. He said he waited there 2 hours and that there are many cars with women and children in the heat. We did not know how to help, called Naomi and Daphne who unfortunately were not available. We did not think a call to the army would help particularly as this was hearsay and we were not even sure where it was, as the guy was a bit vague.9.15- We went to Beit Furiq for 20 minutes. CP was calm. We saw 3 IDs at the CP and were told these belonged to workers who tried to go through the fields early morning before the CP was opened. They were sent home and told to come back for their IDs in the evening. A day’s work was lost.On the way home on road 5, at the CP before Kufer Kaasem, we saw a group of youngsters on the side. One had his hands on his head and was guarded by a soldier. We stopped. They apparently were illegals that tried to get into Kufer Kaasem. There were about 15 youngsters and a few older people, some donkey carts and lots of vegetables they tried to sell. The one guy was apparently not feeling well. The soldiers claimed they caught him a lot of times and he always puts on an act of being ill. He would not drink water we and the soldiers tried to give him. We asked for him to be let to sit in the soldiers shack but they would not allow this as he is pretending and they too stand in the sun all day. They said they will soon be released and that they are caught daily. It was late and we just gave up and left for home devastated.
Hebron
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According to Wye Plantation Accords (1997), Hebron is divided in two: H1 is under Palestinian Authority control, H2 is under Israeli control. In Hebron there are 170,000 Palestinian citizens, 60,000 of them in H2. Between the two areas are permanent checkpoints, manned at all hours, preventing Palestinian movement between them and controlling passage of permit holders such as teachers and schoolchildren. Some 800 Jews live in Avraham Avinu Quarter and Tel Rumeida, on Givat HaAvot and in the wholesale market.
Checkpoints observed in H2:
- Bet Hameriva CP- manned with a pillbox
- Kapisha quarter CP (the northern side of Zion axis) - manned with a pillbox
- The 160 turn CP (the southern side of Zion axis) - manned with a pillbox
- Avraham Avinu quarter - watch station
- The pharmacy CP - checking inside a caravan with a magnometer
- Tarpat (1929) CP - checking inside a caravan with a magnometer
- Tel Rumeida CP - guarding station
- Beit Hadassah CP - guarding station
Three checkpoints around the Tomb of the Patriarchs
Raya YeorDec-18-2025Hebron - Yusri Jaber and part of his family
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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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