Huwwara
Huwwara Saturday 30.12.06, PMHavah H., Vivi T., Noga K., Roni H. (reporting)Driving on road No 60, we looked out for roadblocks, earth mounds or barriers which might have been removed in the framework of the promised alleviations, but did not see any easement in the traffic restrictions. Only at Jit junction the checkpoint was not manned.At Huwwara the peddlers’ market has been eliminated in order to make place for the building of a terminal. Hurray, progress is coming to Nablus!On the first day of Id el Adha there was relatively little movement. No too many people were queueing up but the wait was nevertheless long. The Palestinians came out of the checkpoint festively dressed but with severe faces. They complained that no alleviations were made. They expected not to have to wait today, but instead spent between 25 – 45 minutes in the lanes. The search was as usual and because of the dire economic situation they did not carry many parcels. We were called by two young men with blue IDs to help. They were not let through by the soldiers because they were not supposed to have been in Nablus. We call the checkpoint commander to tell him that according to media reports Israeli Arabs were allowed during the holidays to visit relatives in the PA areas. He does not know about this and had got no orders. We speak to the DCO representative at the checkpoint. He does not know either, but, anyway, he does not deal with Israeli. We call the army hotline. Yes, they know of this decision, but they have no jurisdiction over Israeli. It seems that no one has any right to decide about Israeli, except for the soldiers who were allowed to detain them. Time flies and there are already 10 Palestinians with Israeli ID waiting for their IDs. One family with three small children, shivering with cold. The soldiers and the DCO representative walk around unmoved. They have to call the police. Whoever! we call agrees with us, but… Everybody knows that Israeli are allowed to visit relatives in the PA areas – except for the soldiers, who do not know anything! In the end we decide to call Knesset member Barake, who promises to do something. We call Amira Hass who contacts the Brigade war room. Yes, of course, Israeli are allowed to visit relatives during the holidays. We’ll give orders to the checkpoint. At last, after almost one hour of detention, the 10 Israeli are released and can go home!We want to make sure, that after we leave the soldiers will not detain Israeli ID holders anymore. “Every case will be decided individually” is the answer and we understand that nothing is sure. We also learn that there was a decision one month ago, that all Nablus residents, also the young ones, are allowed to leave Nablus. But our experience does not attest to this. Well, tells us the DCO representative, there are days, when this decision does not apply…..(What always applies is the slogan to “leave the population in a constant state of uncertainty”)
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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Jit Junction
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The checkpoint is located on Route 60 near at the junction with Route 55, near the village of Jit. There was a checkpoint for vehicles passing between the north and south of the West Bank, which was abolished towards 2010. Since then, surprise checkpoints have been set up there from time to time with a police or Border Police vehicle, and vehicles and their passengers are inspected.
Anat PolakJul-17-2025Yitzhar Road, Jit Junction: traffic jam
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