Huwwara
Huwwara. 27 June 2005 Watchers: Nora R., Miki F. (reporting)The routine occupation at the roadblock with no end in sight. Za’atra Junction: long queues of vehicles in both directions, Nablus/Ramallah and Hares Ariel/Ramallah Nablus.Huwwara: the crossing for vehicles and pedestrians is quiet and swift due to the officer who is sensitive and concerned.Beit Furiq: completely deserted: the soldiers are bored stiff, practically no pedestrians or vehicles at the roadblock.Za’atra Junction8:00 a.m.There are about 20 cars in the queue in the direction of Hares-Ariel.There are three soldiers: one in the guard’s hut checking suspicious I.D. cards with the other pair checking each car individually.Their behaviour is satisfactory, they even greet the occupants of the cars as they begin and end the check (these days we marvel even at these small gestures) but they check slowly – it took 8 minutes to check a bus. The rest take between 2 – 4 minutes. At this time in the morning everyone is in a hurry to get to work and each car has to wait between 20 – 30 minutes. We tried to get hold of the D.C.O., but they appear to have taken the day off. We called the humanitarian centre who checked and called us back to say that the battalion informed him that the queue is no longer than usual – as we have said previously: ‘there are Palestinian queues and time and Jewish queues and time…’.8:30 a.m.We went to check the queue from the direction of Nablus and we counted 15 vehicles.There are 4 soldiers, one on guard and the others checking, with a list of names, two cars at a time. The queue moves more quickly and the waiting time for a car is between 5 – 8 minutes.8:50 a.m.We returned to the queue in the direction of Hares, with a proposal to improve efficiency: why not check two cars at a time as in the other queue. The answer: we only received one printed list of names. We asked for another list but they could not print it! (The I.D.F. is destitute, perhaps machsomwatch should donate paper, ink and a printer to them and maybe this would help to hurry the queues up and end the excuses?)8:45 a.m.A bus from Tulkarm to Ramallah is checked, the driver tells us that they left Tulkarm at 7.15 a.m., they were held up for an hour at Anabta and now they have been waiting a quarter of an hour here.We now understand that the D.C.O. and the Army Centre will continue to tell us stories. We left with the intention of writing a letter of complaint to the various army agencies.Huwwara9:15 a.mSurprise! There was no snap roadblock at Yitzhar Junction.Huwwara South: pedestrians and cars cross quickly.Itamar, the roadblock officer, works quietly using his own judgement and spreads an air of calm among the soldiers. He approaches us on his own initiative and asks about our work, about the dilemmas that concern us, among them the tension between the opposition to the occupation and the need to demand change for the better as long as it exists. He also raised questions which concern him without resorting to the soldiers’ familiar security mantras.He mainly listened and even noted at one point that he finds the situation difficult. This was perhaps the first time at the roadblocks that we met an officer who tried to learn and to understand, who did not give us the ‘there is no alternative’ justification and the necessity of roadblocks. At one point the turnstiles got stuck and, quietly and quickly, he released them with keys.A., from the D.C.O. was also more pleasant than usual and helped to move speedily vehicles whose permits soldiers were not quite sure of. At some point we discovered that a Palestinian who had married an Israeli and received a permit to unite families had a different Israeli document – a blue envelope, but an I.D. card adorned with a brown frame. With this he is able to cross into territory A on the West Bank with no problem and he has no need for a special permit.An almost idyllic atmosphere reigned – only the roadblock, the turnstiles and the soldiers spoiled it!10:30 a.m.We went to Beit Furiq. The roadblock was deserted – practically no one crossing in either direction and no vehicles.The soldiers are hostile and do not like us because we are traitors, however the roadblock officer prevents the soldiers from getting into a confrontation.11:00 a.m.We left. We passed by Za’atra Junction – a queue of 30 cars and 4 soldiers with just one of them checking. We could not stop because we were in a hurry to get to work. We informed the next shift.
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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