Huwwara
Huwwara, Saterday 22.4.2006, AMObservers: Vered G. and Hana B. (reperting)Translation: Ruth F.HuwwaraEverything was going “just fine”- no one was being abused, no one was detained and everyone passed relatively quickly- the only thing was the presence of the occupation which appeared with all might and brutality. One more carousel, another glass wall from which only one side of it is transparent, a “cage” to protect the soldiers- and the hatred is rising. The long arm of occupation is turning the lives of these people to hell- and even if the soldiers are to behave politely, there is nothing that can change the fact that these people don’t have even the most minimal freedom of movement. They are not living! Segregation -Treating: Miki F., Naomi L. and Hana B. (reporting)Ever since the terrorist attack in Tel-Aviv- and actually even before, there is a complete segregation between the northern part of the west bank and the southern part of it. A group of people who got out of Jerico and live in Salem, called us in the morning from an unpaved road near the entrence to Bait Dajan. A jeep with soldier stopped them and wouldn’t let them pass.According to what the army says this road is not meant for travel by car, but the residents in the area told us that they have been using this road for a while now with no disturbance. The people who called us were driving by car and were 5 Km from their home, but now they had to go through Bekaut CP on the road heading to Za’atara from the Shomron, and from there to Huwwara, and on to Beit Furik and from there to Bait Dajan.After all why shouldn’t they go through the moon in order to get home? Who are they anyway that they want to get home by the shortest way- which is in it self not much of a high way! All day long- every couple of hours, a new group was held up in that spot. After making numerous calls to the DCO in the Bikaa, to the brigade of the Bikaa, to the IDF Humanitarian Centre (who really did try to help) and to the brigade in Nablus, we found out that there was an argument between the brigade of the Bikaa and that of Nablus about “who is responsible for that area”. It’s as if kafka had written this story, it could even be funny if there wasn’t an occupation involved. We found ourselves trying to explain that we are talking about real people, and that they don’t care about these arguments.Eventually we managed to convince Nablus that this area was their responsibility, but the group of land workers who were returning from their field (as they do every day) had to go through Huwwra checkpoint- in the opposite direction of Beit Dajan there were some police officers who check their car!!! In the end of a process that had begun at 3 o’clock and ended at 7 PM, The group managed to get home. At 7 PM a new group was caught at that spot, also land workers, shepherds with a car full of chicks- if it wasn’t our persistence they would have spent the night at the field. They were allowed to go through that short path- probably because it was getting dark- they got home to Beit Dagan at about midnight. And the Israeli nation had spent a peaceful spring Saturday!!!One more comment: Even though we used the maps of the people who were stuck and their explanations, we still couldn’t make out where the jeep was situated or which road it was that they were talking about. We only know that the road is from east to Beit Dagan, and that is hard to travel on it by car.
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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