Huwwara, Sha`ar Shomron (Qasem), Za’tara (Tapuah), Wed 17.9.08, Morning
Translation: Ruth F.
Notes: We did not head to Beit Furik because a bulb had alerted us about a problem with the car. The hours specified in the report are according to the Israeli time zone
Suliman: "Instead of giving us potatoes they put mountains on top of us"
7:28- Samaria passage: The checkpoint was activated from the east
7:42-Zeita Jamain blockage: They added pails of dirt to the concrete blocks
7:50- Za'tara
Two posts were active from the north.
There were few vehicles on each side.
From time to time the soldiers pulled over a car to check the IDs. The insemination of the occupation in the occupied's mind is so intense that even when being signaled by the soldier to head on, the driver, when approaching the inspection booth, comes to a complete stop. The passengers of a bus that had their IDs inspected waited for 6 minutes.
A car was parked at the parking lot. We didn't see from where the driver came.
At 8:21 two soldiers approached it, and one of them gave the IDs back to the passengers while talking to them, the other was pointing his rifle right at the drivers face.
By the military vehicle that is parked near the inspection posts was a man sitting on a plastic chair that was brought to him from the inspection posts area. In the beginning we thought it was a soldier resting, but when we came closer we saw he was a Palestinian. He might have been taken out of the Palestinian car that was there earlier, we didn't notice. He had been detained for 20 minutes. We asked the soldiers that were guarding him and they said he was being detained. The soldiers could see it was difficult for the Palestinian, especially since it was the "Ramadan". It was a particularly hot day. The soldiers wouldn't give us the man's details.
8:37- We called the "Humanitarian Line" about the detainee. K' from the "Moked" said she would make some inquiries.
At 9:20 K from the "Humanitarian Line" said that the detainees situation is still being checked.
8:55- Huwwara
Three posts were active, there was an x-ray machine but no dogs.
Few pedestrians were there. We couldn't see the vehicle line, not even when we drove towards the Apartheid road.
On top of the constant bipping of the magnometer there was also drillings, they were hanging a computers screen [ I wonder whether the angle in which the screen is placed won't send more soldiers running to the military orthopedic as one has to raise his head in an impossible way to look at it]. The inspection ritual was preformed on that day as well: the unbuckling of the belt, the taking out of the objects from the pockets and from time to time the lifting of the edge of the trousers in order to expose the legs. And after they passed the turnstiles they buckled their belts while walking. We passed by the "Humanitarian point" (without crossing the "white line"). The soldiers there couldn't help put send us off. "I'll be more then happy to do it, if you don't go away we will stop the inspections". She didn't even care what the government's legal adviser had to say about that.
In contrast to the fast passage of pedestrians (as I have already mentions part of the reason for that was that there were few) the vehicle inspection was very slow because the soldiers where to preoccupied with themselves in between the inspection of cars.
9:55- We left.
At the parking lot facing us was Suliman, he asked that we help him find a relative of his. They were from Jama'in. The relative had been working at Ganey Tikva without a permit (an illegal worker as the military calls it), he was arrested by the police, probably on Sunday. He managed to tell the family of his arrest but they didn't know where he was or what was going on with him. As part of our efforts to understand how the family could get their rights we called Dafna B, who called the police. The officer that answered told her that they only give such information to the family and that they should go to Mesubin police station (from Ja'main! With out a permit!) her efforts at the Nablus DCO also did not bear the results we were looking for.
When at home we kept trying to catch hold of the DCO, O' answered, he said the event didn't take place in his region and referred us to the "IDF Humanitarian Centre ".
A' from the "center" said she couldn't help since they don't work with the Israeli police and that this was a case of an illegal worker. We called Hana B who said that it should be checked with the "Centre for the Defence of the Individual".
We called Suliman again, who then said the sentence quoted at the beginning.
10:50- Za'tara- No vehicles.
Translation: Ruth F.
Notes: We did not head to Beit Furik because a bulb had alerted us about a problem with the car. The hours specified in the report are according to the Israeli time zone
Suliman: "Instead of giving us potatoes they put mountains on top of us"
7:28- Samaria passage: The checkpoint was activated from the east
7:42-Zeita Jamain blockage: They added pails of dirt to the concrete blocks
7:50- Za'tara
Two posts were active from the north.
There were few vehicles on each side.
From time to time the soldiers pulled over a car to check the IDs. The insemination of the occupation in the occupied's mind is so intense that even when being signaled by the soldier to head on, the driver, when approaching the inspection booth, comes to a complete stop. The passengers of a bus that had their IDs inspected waited for 6 minutes.
A car was parked at the parking lot. We didn't see from where the driver came.
At 8:21 two soldiers approached it, and one of them gave the IDs back to the passengers while talking to them, the other was pointing his rifle right at the drivers face.
By the military vehicle that is parked near the inspection posts was a man sitting on a plastic chair that was brought to him from the inspection posts area. In the beginning we thought it was a soldier resting, but when we came closer we saw he was a Palestinian. He might have been taken out of the Palestinian car that was there earlier, we didn't notice. He had been detained for 20 minutes. We asked the soldiers that were guarding him and they said he was being detained. The soldiers could see it was difficult for the Palestinian, especially since it was the "Ramadan". It was a particularly hot day. The soldiers wouldn't give us the man's details.
8:37- We called the "Humanitarian Line" about the detainee. K' from the "Moked" said she would make some inquiries.
At 9:20 K from the "Humanitarian Line" said that the detainees situation is still being checked.
8:55- Huwwara
Three posts were active, there was an x-ray machine but no dogs.
Few pedestrians were there. We couldn't see the vehicle line, not even when we drove towards the Apartheid road.
On top of the constant bipping of the magnometer there was also drillings, they were hanging a computers screen [ I wonder whether the angle in which the screen is placed won't send more soldiers running to the military orthopedic as one has to raise his head in an impossible way to look at it]. The inspection ritual was preformed on that day as well: the unbuckling of the belt, the taking out of the objects from the pockets and from time to time the lifting of the edge of the trousers in order to expose the legs. And after they passed the turnstiles they buckled their belts while walking. We passed by the "Humanitarian point" (without crossing the "white line"). The soldiers there couldn't help put send us off. "I'll be more then happy to do it, if you don't go away we will stop the inspections". She didn't even care what the government's legal adviser had to say about that.
In contrast to the fast passage of pedestrians (as I have already mentions part of the reason for that was that there were few) the vehicle inspection was very slow because the soldiers where to preoccupied with themselves in between the inspection of cars.
9:55- We left.
At the parking lot facing us was Suliman, he asked that we help him find a relative of his. They were from Jama'in. The relative had been working at Ganey Tikva without a permit (an illegal worker as the military calls it), he was arrested by the police, probably on Sunday. He managed to tell the family of his arrest but they didn't know where he was or what was going on with him. As part of our efforts to understand how the family could get their rights we called Dafna B, who called the police. The officer that answered told her that they only give such information to the family and that they should go to Mesubin police station (from Ja'main! With out a permit!) her efforts at the Nablus DCO also did not bear the results we were looking for.
When at home we kept trying to catch hold of the DCO, O' answered, he said the event didn't take place in his region and referred us to the "IDF Humanitarian Centre ".
A' from the "center" said she couldn't help since they don't work with the Israeli police and that this was a case of an illegal worker. We called Hana B who said that it should be checked with the "Centre for the Defence of the Individual".
We called Suliman again, who then said the sentence quoted at the beginning.
10:50- Za'tara- No vehicles.
Huwwara
See all reports for this place-
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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Za'tara (Tapuah)
See all reports for this place-
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.
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