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Huwwara, Za’tara (Tapuah), Tue 27.1.09, Afternoon

Observers: Yifat D. Amira A.(reporting)
Jan-27-2009
| Afternoon

Natanya translating.

At Za'tara
Two boys were caught throwing stones and two that were next to them. Near to the crossroads at the continuation of road 505 to Magdal. Four lads handcuffed and seated on the pavement. Because the police did not come to fetch them we spent most of our time watching what would be done with them and when.
13.55 We see that the boys are sitting in a strange manner on the pavement and  soldiers garding them.
We get out of the car and cross the checkpoint to them and the soldiers rush to us, touching and pushing us from the place very rudely. When I find out who the commander is their hands are kept on their guns.
Two boys had thrown stones at passing cars, and two were next to them. All were handcuffed and are sitting in a line. Two soldiers are posted next to them and every now and again tell them to put their heads down. A soldier puts  an empty coca cola bottle next to the legs of one of them and tells them where to look.
The captains try to chase us away saying it is a closed army area but after a while gave it up.
The commander, captain A, says "I have already called the police whose job it is to interrogate them."
This we hear several times but the policemen, who were in the CP  are too busy taking fines from drivers who hardly make a living and taxi drivers with beat up cars. Their eyes are busy with a car which has a seating area in place of a makeshift engine. "Avi come and see this sight ( policeman to policeman). And in the meantime dog trainers go from car to car sniffing while the passengers alight and wait at a distance.
The handcuffs hurt the arrested boys and the soldirs try to improve this and this takes time and hurts the boys.
15.35 An army jeep with the brigade commander and two of his second in command arrives.
He again tries to drive us from the "closed army area" where the settlers have their shop. A short argument. Without a written order we cannot accept this.  He gives up. He phones and phones the police to come but there are no police and the boys are being punished. A conversation with the lieutenant commander who is surprised at our point of view. He is on reserve and his occupation is that of a marketer. "How would you sell the checkpoints overseas?" For a moment this stops him in the middle of his flow and tries to understand our point of view, But all this does not help. The boys are placed in the shed under the sentry tower to sit there.
It is cold and later we leave after TWO AND A HALF HOURS,  with captains of high rank in the area who cannot get hold of the police. We hope that they will restrand the attitude of the two soldiers who are guarding the boys. We go on to Huwwara.
 
16.45 Huwwara.
3 lines and one humanitarian. Most of those exiting are students. About 100 stand in the lines. They say they have been waiting an hour. In the humanitarian line is a vulgar woman soldier who touches the people and pushes them back because they have not stood on the red line? Yifat complains to a soldier and he stops the line to preach to us. A young man comes to me and says "The checkpoint is a university. We learn here how to kill life." I remember him from the last time at the checkpoint when he came to me in a surprise move saying "Why did Hitler leave 10% of the Jews alive?" 
We go to see the car line. From a distance a soldier arrives and sends us to stand behind the frog bin. Immediately a policeman comes. (How come here the police can arrive so quickly? He enters into a wearisome argument that we must move away behind the cement blocks and not bother the traffic. In the meantime night falls and the soldiers are busy with us instead of the lines. The argument ends with our details being taken. We go back to Za'tara. 

18.30 Zatara 
The CP is empty of settlers. Cold and dark. ONLY THE FOUR BOYS STILL SIT THERE FREEZING AND THE CAPTAIN SAYS THAT THE POLICE HAVE STILL NOT COME
We phone the centre again to Zaharani and Ditza.
We managed to get the telephone from one of the handcuffed boys.
 
19.00  We leave in a terrible mood. Hanna B. phones to say that Zaharani is on his way there.
21.30 I phone the boy who gave me his number but it is a mistake and a young man from Tulkarm answers.
22.15  I phone the centre, to Zaharani to hear if the saga has ended. He says that when he arrived they were taken to the brigade and then freeds

  • Huwwara

    See all reports for this place
    • 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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  • 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.  
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