Huwwara, Za’tara (Tapuah), Sun 28.9.08, Afternoon
"But we conquered this – so it's ours!" says a pretty girl-soldier who really, really cannot fathom what we are about here. Upon arriving at the Huwwara checkpoint we meet three young girl-soldiers who serve at the brigade HQ nearby and have come to pay a visit to the checkpoint, and sought us out. They wanted to hear why we come here, what's the story. We explained. One of them, prettier and more innocent-looking than her mates, asked us in deep concern how we suggested to avoid the peril if the checkpoints were dismantled one day. The peril. It took a while until she admitted that it simply means Arabs, and as for the claims to the territory – the land has indeed been given to us for keeps by the God of Israel so there really is no one and nothing to talk about with. Besides, even if one is not religious, after all in 1967 we conquered all of this, so it's ours, isn't it? Verbatim. Let it be noted they were curious and not at all hostile.
On the road passing under the highway, approaching Zawiya, before Barkan I.Z., we notice a Border Patrol jeep checking Palestinian cars.
15:45- Tapuach Za'tara Junction Checkpoint
8 cars awaiting inspection coming from the Nablus area.
15:55 Huwwara Village – a Border Patrol jeep and soldiers at the entrance to the local grocery shop.
Their presence keeps clients away and hurts the owner's livelihood, he tells us glumly.
Later we heard that in fact Huwwara had been under curfew for several hours earlier.
16:10 Huwwara Checkpoint
2 checking posts active, x-ray truck active, DCO representative – Tomer, Checkpoint commander – lieutenant Emek.
No detainees.
Many soldiers and MPwomen present, the waiting lines empty fairly rapidly despite the very thorough inspections. The people in line are required to wait at least 5-6 meters from the first turnstiles, so that the yells "Next! Come on!!" are even louder and shriller than usual.
A middle-aged man, having gone through the check, stops to talk to us: "I wait here for over an hour every day. Today I didn't wait at all. Is it because of you?"
A MPwoman shrieks "One by one!!" A man arrives with a child and she literally barks at him "One by one!!" He tries to explain that they are together, the older uncle passes through the special side line for women and the elderly, while the soldier insists on shouting "Throw that kid out of here now!!"
17:00 The DCO representative leaves.
At 17:45 a third checking post is opened.
The soldier at the special side line is constantly drilling the Palestinians how to stand single file and behave in an orderly fashion: "Stand behind that post!" "Don't let them through until they line up properly!!"
We left around 18:00, without driving to the Beit Furik Checkpoint due to personal constraints.
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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Za'tara (Tapuah)
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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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