Huwwara, Jit, Yitzhar Roadblock
Huwwara, Jit, Yitzhar Roadblock 13 May 2006 Watchers: Amalia W., Noga K., Chava H., Naomi R., Ruti A. (reporting) Amalia and Naomi watched at Tapuach Junction (separate report) 7:45 a.m.There is a snap roadblock at Silwad and there are about 100 cars waiting on the northern side.8:00 a.m.There is a snap roadblock (turned into a permanent one) at the entrance to the village (town?) of Huwwara. There are about 20 cars waiting. The roadblock is about eight minutes away from Huwwara roadblock.Yitzhar roadblock8:30 a.m. There are about 30 cars waiting from the northern side.Huwwara roadblock8:45 a.m. When we arrived it was quite quiet. There were almost no cars waiting to cross from Nablus to the south nor were there many people. The roadblock commander reported ‘heavy traffic’ in the morning. Buses are permitted to cross from the south to the north. The buses crossed empty while the passengers alighted before the roadblock and crossed on foot. According to the roadblock commander he would have let the bus cross with its passengers. Vans crossed with their passengers from south to north. The roadblock commander, Roy, a paratrooper who lives in one of the settlements, was prepared to talk to us and to hear our requests. He is convinced that the roadblocks are necessary for the security of the State.9:30 a.m.The girl soldier checking documents chatted all the time with her soldier friends thus holding up the locals. We drew the commander’s attention to her and he immediately spoke to her about it. She stopped chatting and the residents definitely crossed more quickly.9:45 a.m.A resident who came from the direction of Nablus was not permitted to cross in spite of the fact that he was aged 30 and six months. (No one between the ages of 15 – 30 from Tulkarm, Nablus and Jenin is permitted to cross.) The roadblock commander determined that 30 years old means someone who is aged 31. In this way many residents were barred from crossing. Noga tried to explain his ‘mistake’ to the roadblock commander. We were forced to recruit the help of the DCO representative who did not really know what to do. He made a phone call to clarify the issue. The answer was, of course, that aged 30 means from the day a person is 30. Regarding the man who was not permitted to cross, it was too late. The order was rescinded and the commander apologised!!!A further incident happened when we were approached by a taxi driver, together with a group of seven residents, whose documents had been taken away from them because they had driven on a road which was not permitted to them. The roadblock commander started to return the passengers’ documents but he decided to detain the driver. The commander put the driver’s documents on the parapet. The driver took his chance, took his documents and started to leave. The commander hesitated for a moment, took a soldier with him and tried to chase the driver who managed to get away. It is worth noting that the commander was communicative and polite.10:45 a.m.Snap roadblock at the Bar On industrial park junction.According to the soldiers there were five warnings. There were five soldiers at the roadblock while only one carried out checks. A second one guarded him and the other three rested!!!The soldiers behaved rudely and contemptuously.Along the whole route it was noticeable that on the road signs bearing the names of the various villages and towns the Arabic names had been blacked out.
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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