Huwwara north & south, Jubara
Huwwara Tuesday PM, 28.12.04Observers: Raheli B’A., Hana C., Pithiah A., Lee A.Apology: This report is submitted in a somewhat post-traumatic state, caused by the physical violence of the settlers in Shavey Shomron (see the report by Tami) and the verbal violence of the hill-top youth who attacked us next to the Huwwara checkpoint (see the report by Ilana). No casualties. No damage.13:45 -Jubara: A bright silver trail divides the arrogant commander, sitting on his high throne from the passageway of his subjects who are called by him to approach, to show him their documents and lift up their packages to him. When asked if this seemed to him to be a reasonable situation, he answered coyly, “I am very nice to the people, they’ll probably call me a “maniac”. And they answer obsequiously, “You aren’t a maniac! you’re a man!” and silently add, “You’re a soldier.” When we inquired, we were told that there had been no special preparation for the elections. There is free movement of people, cars and merchandise.15:30 – G’at junction; – a suprise roadblock. About 50 cars, inspections for all the cars.Huwwara South: two young men from England (London) and Sweden, belonging to the International Palestinian Student Organization are “waiting”. They don’t have any permits, and they are supposed to be election observers. The checkpoint commander, D., allows them to pass, since the observers are allowed to pass without permits. He says that there are no restrictions and no need of permits to enter Nablus, not for people and not for vehicles. He doesn’t answer about those forbidden by the GSS.Huwwara South: Oleg, the DCO representative, answers politely: for the candidates and the officials there is free passage, the observers are supposed to have permits which are issued by their international organization. Concerning those forbidden by the GSS: about 50-60 of them can pass freely, if there is no special request from the GSS.
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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