Huwwara
HUWWARA, Monday 11 October 2004 AMObservers: Ina M., Aya K., Tal H., Sharon (guest), Gal K. (reporting)colour=red>We arrived at the southern checkpoint at 10:40 to find some 12 detainees [detainees are, typically, men aged from 16 to 30 or 35 who have no passage permits; recently, there has been an increase in the number of women detainees, a category almost totally absent hitherto. The detainees’ ID details are phoned through to the General Security Services (GSS, also known as the Shabak or the Shin Bet, the Hebrew acronym for the GSS) for checking against a central list of security suspects and the answers are then relayed back to the checkpoints. This cumbersome process can take considerable time, and that can be prolonged even more if the soldiers wait to accumulate a batch of ID cards before passing them on to the GSS , or if they behave in a similarly tardy manner at the end of the process, waiting until they have a batch of GSS clearances before they release individual detainees. Meanwhile, the detainees are virtually prisoners at the checkpoint where the soldiers retain the ID cards until the entire process is completed]. There were some ambulances that had been waiting at their assigned spot on the road for about 15 minutes; no one attended to them, until two of us stood by the soldier who immediately recalled his duty and let them through directly.The checkpoint was manned by a soldier and the commander, assisted by older, uniformed volunteers, a man and a woman.At the northern checkpoint, there were many more soldiers; among them two women soldiers, one of whom especially enjoyed sending nearly everyone who approached her to the detainees’ “pen”. An older soldier (he said he was 28, and he was an Arabic speaker), admitted to Tal that at least eight of the detainees were being held for no good reason. He also said that our work was important. Apparently no one around him shared his views. At 12:00, there was a visit by some of the Women in Blue and White [a self-styled “patriotic” group that visits the checkpoints to show solidarity with the Israeli soldiers manning them, and to whom the women brings small “treats” of cakes, cookies and candy]. There some 18 detainees at Huwwara North including some single women aged between 16 and 30 (some apparently were those to whom the woman soldier had taken a dislike!). Those who went through without being detained were verbally harassed by the women soldiers (!): “Hey, what a beauty, look at those eyes, maybe I’ll take her home with me.”Otherwise, there were no special events…
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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Ronit Dahan-RamatiAug-24-2026Huwara: The school on the outskirts of town and an outpost hidden among the trees
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