Huwwara
HUWWARA , Monday 29 November 2004 AM Observers: Deganit I., Micky F., Ofra K., Yudit A.-D. (reporting) colour=red> 08:30 – Huwwara South One hundred women, babies and small children were crammed into the sleeve leading to the checkpoint , blue from cold. Two women, a baby and a small child were trapped in the turnstile [these are not simple turnstiles such as one finds in a subway station, but high , revolving gates made of steel bars: each segment is barely large enough to admit one average-sized person; there is virtually no room to spare for anything that person may be carrying , whether a child or a parcel; passage for pregnant women or for the elderly is extremely difficult and frightening]. There were only a few men in the men’s line. But there were already some 10 detainees, who’d been held there from between one and two hours. [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 situation in the women’s line was intolerable. We approached the commander, the 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] , and R., the local DCO commander , begging for a little humanity.08:40 –An Israeli TV cameraman arrived and focused on the women, and I too photographed the turnstile 08:45 – The checkpoint commander decided to release the line and allowed the women to go around , rather than through , the turnstile and sleeve areas.09:15 – Ten border policemen arrived and deployed all over the taxi area, detaining all men under the age of 30. We asked why they were detaining people who had already been checked, and they said they did their job without reference to the checkpoint.Thirty young men stood in a line across the width of the taxi area facing three border policemen with drawn rifles. Two others checked documents, the rest were busy catching more young men , and harassing taxi drivers. One of those held was a student on his way to university, detained for the fourth time since leaving home this morning.The photographer left and the women were immediately sent back to make their way through the sleeve. After we interceded, women with babies were permitted to go round. We were given the task of informing them of this.10:00 –Checking was slow, the border police detainees were still standing as if on parade. After 15 minutes, eight were left.10:30 – A DCO representative arrived. Four of the border police’s detainees were allowed to go on their way, the remaining four were barred. Then the border policemen left. We interceded with the DCO representative on behalf of a young man with a referral to hospital in Nablus. He went to the DCO, as ordered by the checkpoint commander, only to be told that their computer had crashed. When we left at 12:30 he was still there. Later we learned that he had gone through.A Palestinian woman with US citizenship who had arrived on a visit to her parents in Nablus was surprised by the illogical regulations when we explained to her that she had to fax an application, attaching photocopies of documents, plus a letter specifying the reason for her visit etc. The permit will probably arrive after one to three weeks.
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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