Huwwara
HUWWARA, Monday 25 October 2004 AMObservers: Gal K., Orly P., Annelien K., Tal H. (reporting) colour=red>At Tapuah (Za’tara) Junction, on our way to Huwwara, there were about 25 vehicles waiting, and about 30 on our way back. We did not stop.We reached Huwarra South checkpoint at 09:50. There were no detainees in the cage: it is no longer a mere “pen” or shed — as reported recently, the entire structure is now surrounded with a wire net turning it into a real cage! Later, about 10 detainees were kept waiting for about half-an-hour [detainees are, typically, men aged from 16 to 30 or 35 who have no passage permits; recently, young women, too, have been detained. 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]. The checking stations were manned by a representative of 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 checkpoint commander and two soldiers; working alongside them, were two women soldiers (in full uniform, with flak jackets, helmets, rifles, the works), one wore no sign of any rank, the other was a lieutenant – they finished their shift about 15 minutes after we arrived. As long as they were there, the atmosphere was very tense, with lots of vulgar, arrogant shouting , and callous behaviour involving the frequent stopping of the turnstiles, and jeering at those stuck inside etc. Taking off their gear as they got ready to leave, they called out to the male soldiers, “See you next week with the Blue and White Women” [the Blue and White Women are a group of self-styled “patriotic” nationalist women who visit the checkpoints to offer support and small “treats” in the shape of drinks and cookies to the soldiers there]. The contrast in the atmosphere after they’d left was truly amazing: the soldiers functioned very quietly, with hardly any verbal abuse. Detainees were released relatively fast, ambulances were let through quickly.Pedestrian traffic was sparse, and relatively smooth.A deaf-mute man kept asking to be let through and was refused with a cold cynical gesture . As a turnstile got stuck, one soldier said to his mate: “They can’t do it because they push it too hard, F…ck it!” Other than that, the checkpoint ran in an outstandingly quiet manner.We moved to Huwwara North at 10:50.There were 10 detainees. The checkpoint commander was a second lieutenant, with him were four soldiers and the DCO officer we’d seen earlier. A rather sparse line waited behind the double set of electrical turnstiles.Among the detainees, there was again a taxi driver who’d crossed the sacred line that keeps these vehicles at a respectful distance. Gal tried to communicate with the commander , but got no answers, beyond a promise that the taxi driver would be taken into custody and that was that.We continued to Beit Furik checkpoint where two groups of reserve soldiers were changing shifts. They were surprised to see us, and asked who we were and what we were doing there, listening very attentively. We were asked, wonderingly, whether we weren’t afraid to move around there, and, to our answer “not at all”, eyebrows were raised and they said they were scared for us. There were no Palestinians at all.
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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