Huwwara
Huwwara CP, Thursday, 16.2.06 AMObservers: Mor G. and Nava A. (reporting)Translation: Hanna K.A very cold, rainy morning. There are no special restrictions, and at long last the hostile company has been exchanged.07:20 Zaatara CP. Two queues, seventeen cars, mainly taxis and busses. All the passengers of the busses are made to descent unto a frozen surface, and their papers are being checked. According to the soldiers all is as usual: There is a differentiation for the inhabitants of Jenin. For the inhabitants of Tul Karem – the security check is obligatory.One of the passengers of the taxi who arrived from Nablus pointed out that to his joy there was no rolling checkipoing at Yitzhar, but until we passed through the village the CP was already there. Seven cars in the quque and a few detainees standing in the freezing cold.07:45 Huwwara. In the south a tent camp was improvised, which covers the remainders of the peddler market. A border police vehicle is leaving the place.In the north – a fresh company. The commander R. is efficient and energetic and conducts the CP aggressively. There is a large number of soldiers, policewomen and a woman dog trainer. There is no device for the checking of the suitcases. When we arrived there was a long queue of women and men up to beyond the shed, and he immediately went up and opened the small gate for women and old people.08:20 The big yard is deserted. There is only one truck which stands “back to back”. The ID box too is almost empty. The soldiers of the new company didn’t enable us to go up the hill to see the blossoming of the anemones, because “they are responsible for our wellbeing”.08:30 Beit Furik. The cold is getting worse and it is raining cats and dogs. There are very few people who pass. According to the soldiers there are no limitations at all on the passage to and from Nablus. When we arrived there were three detainees, two are being immediately released and the third is waiting for another half hour. There is no computer on the site and the sergeant has no military cellular phone, so that he depends on the favours of those who reply on the two-way-radio. We tried to find the DCO representative but there was no answer on the phones we held.A young family with three tiny children, wrapped in shawls, on the way to Nablus. They had not been forced to pass by way of the turnstiles, and it was lucky that the queue was short and they did not freeze.An elegant Mercedes car, with a sign reading: “test”, arrives. Four Palestinians from Nablus get out of it. When the trunk is checked an Israeli registration plate was found. They explain to a soldier who speaks Arabic that the car belongs to them, and that they try to sell it in Beit Furik. The soldiers take their papers and summon the blue police.09:20 Huwwara north. The CP is almost empty. The DCO representative and the new company commander arrive. One detainee in the shed is released immediately upon our arrival.Three men try to enter the town. One is the inhabitant of Nablus and two are Italians. Only one of them holds a Palestinian ID. According to them they came to visit family and to do business. T. refuses to let pass the man who has no Palestinian ID and explains to him energetically that this is the major- general’s decree (in Hebrew, of course). The three split up – one in the direction of Nablus and the two others go back.10:00 On the way home. The CP at Yitzhar is still there and detains eight cars.One remark concerning the dogs. After the prolonged exhausting discussion about the fate of the dog at the Huwwara CP. At the Beit Furik CP there are three lively puppies. Theoretically – what could be more beautiful. But when they wallow in the mud and then jump on the passers by, they are just another nuisance. The CP is not a good place for human beings, neither is it for dogs. I hope that one of the dog lovers will find a more fitting home for them.
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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