Huwwara, Tue 10.4.12, Morning
Ramin, Huwwara
We met with the head of the Ramin local council to check on the progress of paving the access road to the village from the main road (Highway 57). At present, in order to reach the village one must drive via Anabta to Tulkarm, take the road to Jenin and at the top of the hill there’s a lovely road winding toward the village. The route is lovely but dangerous, particularly when traffic is heavy.
We went to the municipal building and were astounded to discover that the head of the local council had gathered 30 people who awaited us. They included council members, the women’s council and school teachers. We sat opposite them, we two little women, describing our organization. The council head described the village (2200 inhabitants) and the many problems caused by the closed access road. It’s not even possible to walk down to the main road to hail a cab because taxis stopping are ticketed. He said that people working in Ramallah had moved away from the village for that reason.
As a result either of our letter (from November, 2011) or their requests, the army allowed them to pave a new access road in place of the one that had been closed. They showed me plans for the road that had been approved by the traffic authorities in 2009. The council head obtained agreements from landowners whose property would be used to enlarge the junction. The next obstacle is the demand by the Civil Authority that the plan be published in the newspaper to allow objections to be heard to using agricultural land for a road. The council head says that will cause a four-month delay.
Next Monday, 16.4.12, at 11:00, they’ll meet representatives of the Civil Administration at the junction. They want our representatives to be present and help (exert pressure).
Other people also voiced complaints.
– A woman whose lands adjoining the main road are flooded by sewage. The army won’t allow her to bring a bulldozer to remove it.
– Another woman complains that her olive grove is full of weeds and they can’t obtain a permit to clear them. Settlers set fire to the dry weeds, damaging the trees.
13:00
We continued to Huwwara.
Shavei Shomron: A police car and lines of cars at the turn to Shavei Shomron in both directions. Many buses drive toward Homesh and return empty. We ask a policeman what’s going on; he says that everything’s ok. The settlers received approval to send a certain number of people to Homesh, and they’re adhering to the limit imposed. Based on the number of buses, it must have been a pretty large number.
Jit junction: Police and a military vehicle. A Palestinian stands next to his vehicle. The policeman appears to be giving him a ticket.
Maybe there’s a larger number of military vehicles on the road because of the holiday.
Huwwara: An unmanned checkpoint (except for the tower). Traffic flows freely to and from Nablus.
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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