Morning
Huwwara and Beit Furik – MachsomWatchers: H.L. and S.G.There was an almost hermetic closure on that side of Nablus, with only physicians and humanitarian cases + ambulances going in. 07.20, Za’atara (Tapuach)About 10 taxicabs + a couple of vans waiting in the line of vehicles, two soliders checking, line going fast.An ambulance with a pregnant woman that came by very fast and went to the head of the queue was pursued by a military jeep with about 5 soldiers. The ambulance driver was literally grabbed by them and thrown into the car. Upon our inquiry (and intervention) they released the driver and let him go through. Itzhar: no checkpoint in operation.07:30-9:15, Huwarra checkpoint: The army was active in Nablus itsef and would not allow anyone to enter except doctors (but not nurses) and clear-cut humanitarian cases.The 4 soldiers at the CP were quite hysterical with the weight of their job – they would not actually check the details of the humanitarian cases we had started to pick out of a crowd of about 150. Instead they kept shouting to them to go back (altogether around 100-120 meters from the usual place under the shed’s roof). Due to our appeal, Ofer (from the DCO) appeared.During the next hour, he checked and let go into Nablus all the cases of people with/without physician’s letter who were either quite ill themselves or were accompanying a sick child. The others slowly dispersed – no new people came- probably because news of the closure was being spread. The whole area was vacated of taxis and carts; they were being required to park much further towards Huwwara itself, as the IDF ordered to have it cleared (perhaps for the IDF troops that would come out of Nablus?) Very few people went out of Nablus.09:30, Beit Furik checkpoint: empty.
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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