Huwwara, Jit, Za’tara (Tapuah), Thu 27.5.10, Afternoon
15:00 Ariel, on the way to As Sawiya:
We entered Ariel from the Rosh Ha'ayin road, drove the length of the town, and left on the east side. It's quite interesting to drive through a large, well developed settlement.
It gives one a perspective that we don't have in our day to day activism.
15:20 As Sawiya:
We drove to As Sawiya in order to deliver clothes, sound equipment. and other things for the school there which our friend Sami had collected in the few days that he had been in Tel Aviv. Since we were already there we decided to talk with some of the people. By chance, we met a very elegantly dressed young man in a dark blue pin-striped suit. (He asked us how we liked his new suit from Amman.)
He came to talk to us as soon as he saw us. He is A. a journalist and part of the staff of the Ministry of Welfare in the Palestinian Authority. He is also an active member of "Shvil Hazahav" for coexistence and peace. The talk was about the harrasment the villagers suffer from the nearby settlement, Eli.
Although the situation of As Sawiya has been known for some time, we, personally, were unaware of the fact that the Civil Administration has given notice to 48 families in the village that their houses will be demolished because they were built without permits from the Civil Administration.
This is ununderstandable! Houses that were built on private land within a village, for families of the village, are to be demolished by the occupation forces.
Do the Palestinians get the permits when they request them? What security issue is at stake if someone in a village builds a house for his family on his land? The injustice of it is mind-boggling!
As A. said, "All we want is justice, law and equality."
16:00 Za'tara:
There is heavy traffic from the direction of Nablus, but the vehicles are going through the checkpost without any checking.
16:05 Huwwara:
The air in the area was so thick with dust that it was difficult to even open our eyes, the weather was terrible. At the checkpoint the vehicles were going in both directions with no checking.
16:35 Jit Junction:
On one side a military jeep was parked at the side of the road. On the other side stood a huge shovel-dozer. Nadim suggested that they were either going to build an earth-barrier somewhere, or they were going to take one away. We couldn't tell which.
we continued to Azzun
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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Jit Junction
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The checkpoint is located on Route 60 near at the junction with Route 55, near the village of Jit. There was a checkpoint for vehicles passing between the north and south of the West Bank, which was abolished towards 2010. Since then, surprise checkpoints have been set up there from time to time with a police or Border Police vehicle, and vehicles and their passengers are inspected.
Anat PolakJul-17-2025Yitzhar Road, Jit Junction: traffic jam
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Za'tara (Tapuah)
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Za'tara (Tapuah) Za'tara is an internal checkpoint in the heart of the West Bank, at the intersection of Road 60 and Road 505 (Trans-Samaria), east of the Tapuah settlement. This checkpoint is the "border" marked by the IDF between the north and south of the West Bank, in accordance with the policy of separation between the two parts of the West Bank that has been in place since December 2005. At the Za'tara checkpoint, there are separate routes for Israelis and Palestinians. In the route for Israelis, there are no inspections and the route for Palestinians inspects. The queue lengthens and shortens suits. The checkpoint is open 24 hours a day. The checkpoint is partially staffed and the people who pass through it are checked at random.
Shoshi AnbarSep-27-2023Za'atra (Tapuah Intersection). Signs
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