Huwwara
HUWWARA, Thursday 14 October 2004 AMObservers: Naomi L., Michal S., Asnat O. (reporting) colour = red>We arrived at Huwwara at 07:00. Since there was little traffic and it was moving easily through the checkpoint, we decided to drive to Beit Furik , stopping on the way at the District Coordinating Office (DCO) [the army section that handles civilian matters; it generally has representatives at the checkpoints ostensibly to alleviate the lot of the Palestinians] . The gate and the buildings were locked and the area seemed deserted. The access pathway – full of potholes and lined with wild flowers – also looked as if it hadn’t been used for a long time. Had the guard’s tower not been manned (by a guard who also reported our arrival), we might have thought we’d arrived at the wrong place. Beit Furik We saw almost no people wanting to cross. As mentioned in previous reports, the checkpoint is being gradually “upgraded”. In addition to a group of cordial soldiers, we noticed that the detainees’ area had been fully fenced (so that it looks like a cage), neon lighting had been installed, and the turnstiles were now operated by the soldiers pressing a button. Another development, new to us, was a computer linked to the unit’s HQ. We asked whether the computer helped to reduce the waiting time for detainees, and the soldiers said that unfortunately this was not so [detainees are, typically, men aged from 16 to 30 or 35 who have no passage permits; their 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]. 07:40 — Huwwara SouthThere were already 16 detainees ; according to the checkpoint commander, some of these men’s details had been submitted to the GSS as early as 06:00. But answers only arrived at 08:15. An Israeli Arab married to a Palestinian woman tried to go through to Nablus. A soldier explained to him that Israelis were not allowed into Nablus. The man tried to explain himself again – hoping that perhaps an exception might be made and that the soldiers would let him through. The soldier, however, replied: “Being here at the checkpoint is bad enough for me as it is. Don’t argue with me, because it’s the government that’s decided on the rules – not me. The state has decided that holders of Israeli ID documents are not allowed to enter Nablus. You know (pointing to the road that leads to the DCO, the settlement of Itamar and to Beit Furik), only Jewish Israelis are allowed to enter this road. Earlier, I had to tell a lorry driver to go back on his tracks and drive around this area by a different route – because I am not allowed to let Israeli Arabs through. I think it’s stupid, but that’s how it is. So, you have two options – stand here and argue with me for the next couple of hours, or go to the DCO [by the long, round-about route – AO] and obtain a special permit. I can’t let you pass.”During another conversation with one of the Palestinians who regularly takes merchandise into Nablus, a soldier turned to the porter, saying: “Tell him that every day is different here. It cannot be the same . Sometimes we check everything and sometimes only some of the load. Want to learn a technique? If you tell me to check everything, I won’t. If you tell me it’s the same as always – I’ll check everything.”
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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