Huwwara, Wed 10.9.08, Afternoon
Natanya translating.
14.05 Za'tara – 2-3 cars waiting at the CP.
14.13 Huwwara –
The checkpoint is packed.
One detainee since 13.30.The commander, Itai, says he tried to slip out of Nablus through the turnstile at the entrance and was freed 3 hours later at 16.30.
The commander was polite and said that there had been a lot of pressure that day because of the incident in the morning. Careful checking and pressure also in the humanitarian lane.
Time of waiting becomes shorter from 3 hours to one and a half. The waiting period in the humanitarian line is an hour to an hour and a half.
The older women who are fasting and those who are pregnant come out exhausted and pale, some of them have to be supported. It is very hot. The checkpoint is tense and every now and again there are waves of shouting.
15.10 – 15.15 9 cars wait for a long time at the entrance to Nablus. Itai says that there is a change of shift at the post and they have to wait for a soldier to come back and for the meantime the road is blocked.
At the house behind the "humanitarian spot" the secret service takes young men who have undergone a careful body search to speak to them, probably trying to enlist collaborators.
15.20 Another man is caught in front of our very eyes trying to slip through. He had also tried to get through the turnstile at the entrance to Nablus. 3 angry soldier catch him and take him to the isolation.
15.30 Another man tries to slip through and the soldiers run to the checkpoint and catch him and a third man is taken to the isolation. The detainees complain that the handcuffs are too tight and that they are dying and the commander checks. The complaints stop.
16.00 We leave the checkpoint where there is still great pressure.
Our hearts are heavy and we feel hopeless.
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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