Huwwara, Tue 28.6.11, Afternoon
How many phone calls must a person make to obtain two permits?
12:40
The Kufr a-Dik Women’s Club We brought permits from the coordinator of permissions (permits for the day at the beach, 29.6. Everyone participating needs a permit, from the youngest to the oldest. Three women welcome us warmly and joyfully. They’re dressed traditionally in black; one is veiled. Jeans peep from under the hems of their skirts. It isn’t clear initially whether children who aren’t accompanied by their parents will also be able to enjoy the outing. After a series of phone calls, we can relax – everyone will be permitted to go. But not exactly: Two children didn’t receive permits. One, 5 years old, because of an error in writing his ID number, and the second, aged 13, is “denied by the Shin Bet.” “Denied” in Hebrew. Her crime is unknown. It’s even more surprising, because her brother is allowed to get on the bus. If she can’t go, neither can he. Meanwhile we wait. In the absence of a common language we alternate between translators and pantomime. It turns out that the three women are unemployed and occasionally obtain temporary work at the Club. It was established in 2004, funded by the Japanese government. Hala, the club’s director, now joins us. Her face is like her name, glowing. “Hala” means halo. She’s new in the area, originally from Jordan. We exchange phone numbers. She wants us to meet her two daughters. All this time phone calls are going back and forth, but by the end of the meeting we still don’t know the fate of the two children who haven’t received permits. Time is pressing – fewer than 24 hours remain before the trip to the beach. If they get the permits, someone will have to go to the nearest DCO to pick them up. Even though the fax machine has already been invented… Among those benefitting from the occupation, in addition to contractors, are the various phone companies. Also the army of clerks. They’re working on the road to Fadu’el, Beit Arieh and Aley Zahav. Someone guesses that when they’re finished it will also become an apartheid road.
14:00
A grocery in Hars. Little Israeli merchandise in the store. Recently the army hasn’t often entered the village. Nor is anyone throwing rocks. Much unemployment. Not all the residents own land. Land is expensive and there’s no money to buy it. The adults work in the settlements. One resident says he dug a pit on his land to collect rainwater. The army forbade him to do so. An attorney is currently handing the matter. It’s costing him a lot of money, but he needs a source of drinking water.
15:30
Huwwara A youth says that at 3:15, before we arrived, he saw an accident. An army jeep collided with a Palestinian vehicle. The jeep drove away, but another military vehicle arrived. Two people who were lightly injured were evacuated by a local ambulance.
16:00
Huwwara checkpoint Considerable traffic flows freely.
16:10
Tapu’ach junction Traffic flows freely.
Explanation of the photographs (which was missing from the original report) Photos 1 and 2: A collision in Huwwara between a vehicle belonging to the Palestinian Authority and an IDF jeep. Two Palestinians were injured. The jeep drove away and an IDF Hummer appeared instead. The injured were evacuated by the Palestinian ambulance. Photo 3: An amusing sign over a garage on Huwwara’s main street. לפני שמפיצים תמונות של שלטים "משעשעים," אני מציע לחשוב פעמיים. היום בהארץ קראתי ידיעה שקטע ממנה מופיע להלן: כך, למשל, נכתב היום על שלטים השם "ירושלים" ולצדו "Jerusalem" באנגלית ו"אל-קודס", או "אורושלים", בערבית. על פי הצעת כץ ייכתב באנגלית התעתיק העברי: "YERUSHALAYIM" וכך גם בערבית. ההצעה נוגעת גם לעשרות יישובים. בשלטים נכתב היום שם העיר עכו בערבית, "עכא"; חברון היא "אל-חליל" וטבריה היא "טבריא" בבי"ת דגושה. נצרת באנגלית היא כמובן Nazareth ולא NATSRAT כהצעת כץ. משעשע לא פחות, ואולי אף יותר. לדעתי, עדיף ללא שעשועים.
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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