Huwwara
After a preliminary meeting with five women interested in joining, Yael C. and Ariela Y. accompanied us after an “upsetting tour” (led by Yael S.).
This morning they came with us, “rose from their easy chairs,” as they put it. We enjoyed their company and are certain they’ll make a contribution. We chose Huwwara, which wasn’t included in their tour.
On the way we explained all we could, and when we reached Huwwara met our friend M. who agreed to join us at Mazen’s baklava café and describe the problems in the field.
M. said the main problems at present are:
- Coordinating the olive harvest. The plots in the area are on their side of the separation fence. Nevertheless, every trip to the groves requires coordination between the Israeli and Palestinian DCLs to ensure the safety of the landowners whose plots usually adjoin their homes. The coordination involves sending soldiers to guard the plots, and specifying the number of harvesters permitted. The settlement security coordinators are also informed. Without coordination, it’s clear the Palestinians would suffer from the settlers’ violence. M. is a field activist and handles the coordination. He said there’s less violence this year than in the past.
The number of permits granted is inadequate given the number of days for the harvest. The reasons are:
- The army doesn’t allocate a sufficient number of soldiers.
- Even though the necessary coordination has been carried out, the soldiers don’t show up.
- The excuses for not sending soldiers: stones were thrown at vehicles; farmers didn’t arrive on time (?); the number of harvesters who appeared didn’t match the number permitted; endless excuses… The result is that olives remain on the trees in many plots whose harvest would have been completed in two more days, and the farmers aren’t able to finish the harvest which was in any case meager this year.
If the farmers go to the groves on their own the settlement security coordinator sees them immediately and notifies the settlers, who may attack the harvesters, steal olives, set fire to the trees, etc.
This morning M. was notified that despite the coordination soldiers won’t be showing up. He went to a farmer who was already in the grove and presented the choice – to continue picking, or protect himself (and other family members) by leaving. The farmer and his family fled from their land. Fled!, M. emphasized.
- Widespread expropriation of land. More and more expropriations by illegal outposts. This disease keeps spreading.
We drove along Huwwara’s main street and saw new plazas that had been built. M. told us that two days ago a celebration was held around the olive tree in the plaza. It had been constructed with funds from USAID. Large numbers of settlers showed up and danced around the plaza (as if a new location had been built for them). The army stopped traffic on the road until the ceremony ended.
We continued to the checkpoints at Huwwara, Awarta and Beit Furiq to explain and see for ourselves. From there we drove to look out on Nablus from the heights of Alon Moreh. The settlement’s bulletin boards identify themselves as “Alon Moreh – Shechem.” There’s a poster calling for Netanyahu to resign because of Amona. The entire area is covered with posters reading “Amona will not fall again”.
A real Massada.
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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