Huwwara, Beit Furik, Awarta and Za’atra Junction
Huwwara, Beit Furik, Awarta and Za’atra Junction 20 July 2006 Watchers : Zehora (first time) and Nava (reporting)We went out in spite of the notification of closure and indeed at the Nablus roadblocks there was no closure.Za’atra Junction6:40 a.m. The soldiers report that the separation is the normal one: men between the ages of 16 – 35 from Nablus and Jenin are not permitted to cross. The inspection is comparatively quick. There is no queue at all from the west and from the north. From the direction of Huwwara there are 22 cars in the queue.Two dog handlers deal with a van full of heavily upholstered furniture. The dog refuses to obey their instructions and is not prepared to find traces of suspicious substances. Both of the drivers stand at the side of the road for a long time and the Border Police urge the dog handlers on so that the two don’t wander around getting in the way.Huwwara7:10 a.m. We passed by the wakening town, Yitzhar roadblock is staffed but no one is in the queue.At Huwwara roadblock the atmosphere is very relaxed. There are very few coming and going. We are told that the army is in the town and is disrupting the routine.The roadblock commander, sergeant A., departs from what is acceptable lately and allows us to stand on the other side of the uncrossable line. In spite of the fact that the queues are not crowded he opens the humanitarian lane all the time.At the exit from Nablus there are many taxis loaded down with suitcases. The passengers drag them to the x-ray machine and back again.At the entrance to Nablus the traffic of cars is light.Awarta7:45 a.m.Here too the traffic has not yet built up. There is a lot of fresh fruit, building materials and containers from the ports on their way to Nablus.Beit Furik8:00 a.m. Lieutenant Y., checks the few cars and his soldiers check the residents entering Nablus. Israeli cars are parked around the roadblock and the garbage bins are overflowing. It is all evidence of the forces which gathered there before entering the town.8:00 a.m.A woman from Jiftaliq tries to cross in the direction of Beit Furik. The commander prevents her from doing so. According to him she has already crossed a number of times and he has explained to her time and again that she is not allowed to go to Jiftaliq via this roadblock. “She should go via Beit Iba”, those are the orders.Huwwara8:30 a.m. The picture has not changed much. The dog handlers have arrived and they wander around beside the x-ray machine. The DCO vehicle is also parked there but its occupants are sitting inside in the air conditioning and are not prepared to answer our questions.8:45 a.m.We leave in the direction of the town. At Yitzhar roadblock there is a queue of 24 cars both in the direction of Nablus and in the direction of Yitzhar.Za’atra Junction8:50 a.m. There are no cars at all from the direction of the town; there are 177 in the queue from the west.At the checkpoint before Kfar Kassem the traffic is flowing. There too they have not heard about any closure and they are not checking those on the road with yellow number plates.
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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