Tapuach, Huwwara, Beit Furik
Tapuach, Huwwara, Beit Furik. Wednesday, 1/3/06 PMObservers: Daliah F., Alison (a guest from Canada) Dvorka A. (reporting)Translation: Hanna K.Summary: The Tapuach Junction is very congested, especially at the passage northwards. At Huwwara it is less crowded than it usually is on Wednesdays in the afternoon (perhaps all this is connected with the attacks of that day near Migdalim and at Quilquilya). Between 5:00 and 6:00 there is a general strike at the Huwwara CP – “Life Freezing”(!) because of an alert concerning a suspect who supposedly was among those waiting in the shed.14:30 Tapuach Junction, it is more congested that usual. In all directions cars are waiting to be checked. In the queue from the south, in the direction of Huwwara there are many tens of cars, one cannot see where the queue reaches. There is also a heavy load in the queue from the East in the direction of the junction and there are about 25 cars from Huwwara southwards. We did succeed in understanding from the soldiers the reason for the queue, until we heard about the two terrorist attacks near “Migdalim” and Huwwara.14:45 Huwwara there are tens of people waiting in the shed, much less that we are used to meeting on Wednesdays at this time of the day. When we arrived two turnstiles were active, the humanitarian lane and only one post for the checking of ID’s. In any case there is a definite change for the better (compared to the former unit which acted at the CP) as regards the attitude of the soldiers towards the Palestinians and the functions they have to fulfill. The commander, Y. tried to prevent delays and was absolutely matter of fact. The commander of the military police soldiers was hostile. When we asked him to find out whether one could add another post for the checking of the papers, he reacted very rudely, but a few minutes later he himself netered the second post and worked side by side with the girl soldier.Two detainees (one Israeli, the second a Palestinian who is stopped from time to time because of something which doesn’t look right to somebody in his ID) were released after lengthy enquiries.16:30 Beit Furik. The CP and its surroundings are almost empty.16:45 Again at Huwwara, in the shed there are still tens of people waiting and very long queues of cars, especially from the direction of Nablus southwards.17:05 – The CP commander informs the crew that there would be a complete cessation of the checking – “life freezing”. At first he couldn’t tell us what the reason for that was.17:20 three jeeps arrived on the site with a reinforcement of about fifteen soldiers, in order to perform special checks in the shed. We understood from the soldiers that an information had arrived that a wanted person who may be connected with the attacks of that day.17:30 – at the Tapuach junction there are very few cars.At about 18:00 we talked on the phone with F. from the CSO. He said that the soldiers detained one person for investigation, and that just now they make it possible to continue with the checking and the passage through the CP.
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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