Nablus Governorate: soldiers enter villages and shoot in the air
Qusra – The gate at the entrance of the village is closed since the beginning of the war. Several houses have remained outside the fence. When we arrived at the closed gate we met some small children coming home from their schools and their homes are behind the fence. A 7-year-old child told us that soldiers and Migdalim settlers keep coming to their homes. The settlers steal vehicles with the license plates of which are erased. The child said he is not scared of the soldiers even when they throw smoke and teargas bombs.
Near the gate we met an old man who works in the local council, and he too told us what was happening. We entered the grocery situated a few meters from the gate. The shopkeeper is a young man who yesterday, Monday February 10th, soldiers took him out of the grocery, beat him up, shackled him behind his back, laid him on the ground with his face to the ground. He said soldiers enter mosques every day, walk around the streets and shoot in the air, and a youngster has been killed by a stray bullet. The soldiers harass shopkeepers more, so the shopkeepers created a WhatsApp group and as soon as someone sees soldiers entering the village he reports to the group and they immediately close the shops. In order to exit the village they have to make the long route from Jurish and As-Sawiya whose gates are closed at 10 p.m. and open in the morning, but here there is a checkpoint and soldiers who inspect and that takes 3 hours.
Another problem is inhabitants that walk back to the village – the soldiers as well as the guard at Migdalim settlement make them go back and don’t let them get back to the village. They need to wait until the soldiers leave, or if a vehicle goes by they go with him to the bypass road.
Aqraba 2 p.m. – The gate was closed and two trucks loaded goods back-to-back. When the gate opened, it was manned by soldiers inspecting vehicles coming and going. We drove to Aqraba through Majdal village, the gate to which was open.
We spoke with a baker who told us that every day, soldiers walk around the village, shoot in the air and harass people on the street. A new Mercedes, worth 400,000 shekels, was damaged by such shots.
Huwara – the gate was open, and many shops were closed.
Awarta 2:30 p.m. – as usual, a long waiting line of vehicles. The soldiers yelled at us and demanded that we get back in the car.
Beit Furik – long waiting line for those driving back from Nablus.
Burin – the gate was closed so we spoke with Doha on the phone while were near the gate. She told us that on Monday, February 10th, at 9 p.m., soldiers entered Burin, came into houses, went wild, searched and arrested a woman and her son and beat them up, they made the son lie on the vehicle with his hands and legs wide open for about half an hour, then took them into custody and released them at noon the next day.
The woman’s name is Wafaa Mustafa Rashed Najar.
The gate was closed until they finally opened it this morning.
On our way back, Sara Checkpoint was open to people exiting Nablus and closed for entry, as soldiers stood guard.
At Al Funduk, the army posts were manned by armed soldiers, a jeep stood at the entrance to the main road stopping vehicles, taking down passengers and conducting searches.
Location Description
'Awarta
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Awarta, an internal checkpoint in the heart of the West Bank, is located east of the Hawara checkpoint, at the junction of Roads 555 (which was forbidden for Palestinian traffic in this area) and the entrance road to Nablus. It was one of the four checkpoints that surrounded Nablus until 2009. We used to watch it at Huwwara shifts because it was the only one where goods could be transferred to and from Nablus, using the back-to-back method. It was operated by the army, from 06:00 to 20:00. Until 2009.
Ronit Dahan-RamatiFeb-11-2025Awarta: a long line of cars
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Beit Furik checkpoint
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One of the three internal checkpoints that closed on the city of Nablus - Beit Furik to the east, Hawara to the south, Beit Iba to the west. The checkpoint is located at the junction of Roads 557 (an apartheid road that was forbidden for Palestinians), leading to the Itamar and Alon Morea settlements and Road 5487. The checkpoint was established in 2001 for pedestrians and vehicles; The opening hours were short and the transition was slow and very problematic.Allegedly, the checkpoint is intended to monitor the movement to and from Nablus of the residents of Beit Furik and Beit Dajan, being the only opening outside their villages. Since May 2009 the checkpoint is open 24 hours a day, the military presence is limited, vehicles can pass through it without inspections, except for random inspections. (Updated April 2010)
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Burin (Yitzhar)
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Burin (Yitzhar)
This is a Palestinian village in the Nablus governorate, a little south of Nablus, on the main road passing through the West Bank. The settlements: Yitzhar and Har Bracha, settled in locations that surrounded the village, placed fences so it is cut off the main road.
There are around 4000 inhabitants. Most of them are engaged in agriculture and pasture, although many graduates of the two secondary schools continue to study at the university. Academic positions are hardly available, they find work as builderd, or leave for the Gulf countries.
The village lands were appropriated several times for the establishment of Israeli settlements and military bases, and as a result, Burin's land and water resources dwindled. lSince 1982, more than 2,000 dunams of village land have been declared "state land" and then transferred to Har Bracha settlement.
Over the past few years and more so since 2017, the villagers have been terrorized by the residents of Yitzhar and Har Bracha, the Givat Ronen outpost and others. Despite the close proximity of soldiers to an IDF base close to one of the village's schools, residents are suffering from numerous stone-throwing events, vehicle and fire arson, also reported in the press.
In 2023, the prevention of the olive harvest in the village plot was more violent than ever. Soldiers and settlers walked with drawn weapons between the houses of the village and demanded that people stop harvesting in the village itself and in the private plots outside the village. The settlers from Yitzhar and Giv'at Roned raided the olive groves and stole crops. 300 olive trees belonging to the residents of Burin, near Yitzhar, were uprooted. The loss of livelihood from the olives causes long-term economic damage to the farmers' families, bringing them to the point of starvation.
(updated for November 2023)
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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)
.Fathiya AkfaFeb-11-2025Huwara: traffic jam on the main road
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Qusra
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Qusra
This village is located in the Nablus district, about 28 kilometers south-east of the city. Its population numbers 4,310 as of 2007 (according to the Palestinian census). After the Oslo Accords, 50% - most of the village’s built-up area – was categorized Area B, and about 70 homes as well as the rest of its land are inside Area C.
In 1983, 177 dunams of the village lands were confiscated by Israel to build a ‘Nahal’ stronghold, turned civilian in 1985 and named Migdalim settler-colony, east of the village itself. To the north-east is a gas station and a leather plant, as well as a studio producing wood ware, all of which are a branch of the settler-colony. Dozens of additional farmland were confiscated from Qussra and Jaloud in order to erect the settler-colonies Esh Qodesh and Ahiya.
“The villagers point to the settler-colonists of Esh Qodesh as the source of their problem. Qussra villagers were forbidden to tend their lands located a kilometer away from the Esh Qodesh fence, and about 20 meters from the area declared military zone. What about the ‘legitimate’ plots? Their crops are regularly destroyed by the settler-colonists. Fires break out in wheat fields, olive trees are cut down, wells are destroyed – these have all become routine events. In spite of all of this, the head of the local council sees the Israeli army as the main source. He says that the settler-colonists could not have harassed the villagers without the army backing them up…”
(From a MW report, August 3, 2015)
In 2001, the Israeli army evacuated its intelligence base “Kida”. In 2003, the settler outpost Kida was established, a quick attempt was made to evict the newcomers, but they were eventually allowed to remain.
For further information: http://vprofile.arij.org/nablus/pdfs/vprofile/Qusra_vp_en.pdf
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