Huwwara
Huwwara, Monday 4.4.05, PMRuthie K. (reporting), Ziona S. Guest: CarrolBefore setting out I was asked by R’ to stop at the Tel Ha-Shomer hospital and to collect the wife and the mother of the wounded man from Kalil who were there visiting him. We therefore arrived late at the checkpoint. We managed to pass the women without problems.At the Tapuach junction there was, strangely enough, only a single car heading south which was being checked.At the checkpoint there were relatively few people waiting to pass, and the procedure therefore was quick and without problems. There were military police and soldiers under the command of Boris. There were two young detainees, students from Anagach who were transferred somewhere in a jeep and were probably taken to be investigated by the The Security Services. During our stay more students appeared from time to time in the stockade but they were very quickly released. Apparently they were regulars, as one of them knew the names of the soldiers.A group of foreigners – a Danish woman, a Dutch man and a South African appeared. They naively demanded to be allowed to go to Nablus. They said they were visiting Israel, were staying at the Kibbutz Zeelim and were touring the country, equipped with an outdated pre-Intifada tourist guide, and wished to visit Nablus too. They had to turn around and went be taxi to visit Jericho… Then a group of Frenchmen, members of an organization called (if I am not mistaken) I.P.S. appeared. They too wished to go to Nablus and stay there. They had received ahtorisation from the French consulate in Jerusalem. As was to be expected they were not allowed to enter Nablus. I talked with R’ who was unable to deal with the matter. I gave the consul the phone number of the MATAK and a quarter of an hour later the commander got a phone call which authorized the entry of the members of this humanitarian organization. We couldn’t believe our eyes.The passage of the people went smoothly there was no pressure and the soldiers were polite. We were cold and decided to return via Jubara. We had a chance to see the tunnel that is being built under the Settlers’ Road. There were many jeeps and Hummers but no surprise roadblocks.
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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