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HUWWARA, Thursday 10 June 2004 PMObservers: Michali B.-A., Keren P., Nili C. colour =red> Huwwara South There was a very long line of cars ( about 20). The drivers claimed they’d been waiting two hours. Among them were two ambulances, that were not being dealt with separately. About 30 people were waiting to go through. There was a District Co-ordinating Office representative there but he said we should approach him only with very urgent cases because his task was to let elderly people through. When we asked him about a man with an urgent referral to Rafidiya Hospital with kidney stones, already detained for an hour-and-a-half, he let him through, but said it wasn’t a sufficiently urgent case [the DCO is the section of the army that handles civilian matters; it usually has representatives at the checkpoints, ostensibly to alleviate the lot of the Palestinians]. Twenty-four detainees had been waiting between two and five hours in the sun ( there was no shade and no water tank). The soldiers said they had sent ID numbers to the General Security Services (GSS) at 13:30 [ the GSS is also known by its Hebrew acronym as the Shabak or Shin Bet; it maintains a list of security suspects against which the ID details of Palestinian men between the ages 16 and (now) 30 held at checkpoints are cross-checked; until clearance is given, the men are virtually prisoners at the checkpoints where their ID cards are held by the soldiers] . Among the detainees, was Y., who lives in Qabalan. His brother was injured in a road accident this morning and was taken to Rafidiya Hospital. Y.set out to visit him but had been detained now for five hours. Then there was a resident of Nablus, released from Ketziyot jail (Ansar 3) that morning after a year-and-a-half; now he had been waiting an hour-and-a-half. When we approached the soldiers, he was immediately released.At 14:45 some of the detainees were released but those who remained or were added were not released until 18:00, because of the punishment which the soldier Y. decided to impose, even though GSS approval arrived earlier.As soon as the DCO representatives, E. and A., arrived at this side of the checkpoint, at our request, they released all the detainees and speeded up the line.Huwwara NorthThere were 30 people waiting to go through and 10 detainees, who’d been there about four hours. There was also a line of porters waiting for their goods to be checked. One family told us they’d been waiting two hours for their porter. When I asked about this , a soldier was sent to check out the matter. Y., the checkpoint commander, behaved with his customary indifference, except for several occasions when he shouted and threatened through the megaphone (even when talking up close to people ). There were 18 confiscated taxis beside the checkpoint.Among the detainees: A man on his way home to bring things to his father in Rafidiya Hospital for the second time that day. A young man released from Rafidiya that day after pulmonary surgery who had documents attesting to this, but they were in Arabic; his mother was with him (not detained, but waiting with him). One man had been waiting five hours because the soldiers claimed that his document (not an ID card but a Red Crescent employee’s card, if I’m not mistaken) was forged because it looked as if it had been computer-copied. He was made to sit on one side, as punishment. It looked as if they didn’t know what to do with him. When all the detainees were released at 18:00, he was released as well.There was a repetition of the story of the Israeli truck drivers wanting to exit Nablus after unloading merchandise. Three truck drivers were waiting: one wanted to enter Nablus, with asphalt. He needed to get there by 16:00, when the workers stopped work. Moreover, asphalt mustn’t be left standing for too long. The soldier kept him there till 16:00 and he was finally told to turn back. Two others wanted to leave Nablus (without merchandise) and were forced to wait for the police [it is the police, not the military, who deal with Israeli citizens in the occupied territories]. Y. claimed he’d contacted the police but they hadn’t come. At about 16:30 a policewoman happened to pass, and when I approached her she said the complaint hadn’t reached her but nevertheless she released them.At 17:00, two DCO representatives arrived; they were attentive and the entire atmosphere changed . At first they were on the northern side, and then, at our request, moved to the south.
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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