Huwwara, Za’tara (Tapuah), Sat 6.10.07, Morning
Translation: Suzanne O.
Za'atra
We arrived at 7:10 a.m. and found 48 cars waiting in the queue. At the bottom of the hill a jeep was parked and beside it an officer with the rank of lieutenant and two soldiers who were mainly occupied with directing the traffic. The officer was a reservist and our appearance in the area shocked him; he attempted to explain to us how dangerous the place is.
We ascended the hill and saw that the cars were not inspected on any of the three sides of the roadblock and the traffic was flowing. We left a little before 8:00 a.m.
Huwwara
The ‘flock' is the nickname given by the soldiers to those standing in the various queues. Is this another innovation in the discussions on reconciliation? Or is it just an expression of the IDF's view of the Palestinians- chickens.
The queue at the entrance to Nablus reaches the car park and many, many people are crowded in there. Since there is no inspection at the entrance to Nablus what is the purpose of the turnstile?
After we approach the roadblock commander people are told to cross on the road and the crowding abated.
The queues of cars in both direction flowed – the crossing to Nablus did not take more than seconds and the exit from Nablus, in spite of the presence of the dog handler, took about ten minutes.
The dog and its owner enjoyed a rest and a game with the soldiers and were not required to do anything during the time we were there.
It took young people about an hour to cross and about ten minutes via the ‘humanitarian' crossing.
Detainees: on our arrival we found a detainee in the lock-up who ‘had been disrespectful and cursed a soldier' who was speedily joined by another man. These two had just been released (within less than half an hour) then, one after another, three others were added. They were all released within minutes and their documents returned. One of the detainees took the time to check whether the document returned to him was actually his – what luck because otherwise another unending ‘quest' would have been undertaken.
The DCO: there was no DCO representative at the roadblock – or if there was he was invisible to us. We phoned Huwwara DCO, but the soldier refused to give us the name of the representative who was absent from the roadblocks, "because later you will complain and I'll get into trouble". Reading between the lines of the conversation it seemed to us that this was one of the soldiers we complained about after the night of the atrocity this week.
Summary: Huwwara roadblock ‘ran smoothly' today, the soldiers behaved satisfactorily, the commanders listened to our requests – everything appeared to be ‘satisfactory'. It is hard to describe in words the rage and humiliation of the hundreds of thousands crossing every day, and this is not the only roadblock that they are forced to cross in the Palestinian territories. The sight of people undressing and dressing publicly – men in front of young women – the scornful behaviour of the soldiers, the smoking and eating in the presence of those fasting in these days of Ramadan, the never ending standing in queues, the fear that you will not be able to cross – all of this recurs and reveals itself to us on a daily basis as we stand at the various roadblocks, and we are unable to do anything about it.
We left at 11:30 a.m.
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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Fathiya AkfaOct-06-2007Huwara: traffic jam on the main road
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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.Shoshi AnbarSep-27-2023Za'atra (Tapuah Intersection). Signs
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