Nablus
Reasonable morning at
Huwwara.
08.00 The queue at the checkpoint was crowded and dense. Since it
opened, it was closed for 40 minutes due to an alert about a female
suicide bomb. The checkpoint commander and the DCO officer were
doing the checking themselves assisted by six more soldiers, coping
efficiently with the huge crowd, and the pace was rather quick.
Women are let through without checking. Almost all men passed even
within the age of 16-35. Both officers sounded sincere when they
said that they are willing to ease on Palestinians as much as
possible. Some people refused once tried again, and sometimes were
then more successful. At about 10:00 a group of high ranking
officers arrived, and gave the soldiers some minor tips about
organizing lanes, taxi parking, etc. But unfortunately they
studiously avoided any contact with us.
North Huwwara: As usual, the regulations are strictly implemented.
Women passed unchecked and the men in line all had valid permits.
Vehicles: Very few private cars with special permits and some
ambulances passed after a brief check. Trucks with merchandise did
the back-to-back arrangement on a road bypassing the checkpoint
from the east. The drivers seem to know about it, but we were not
allowed to cross over there. Recall that blue IDs and foreign
passports are not allowed through Huwwara. Still, two young
Canadian volunteers from “Hope”, a charity organization,
were let through as an exceptional gesture. Tapu’ah junction:
Passengers were ordered out of the taxis and buses to be checked
one by one.
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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Shoshi AnbarMay-18-2025Huwara: The old houses in Area C
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