Tapuach Junction
Tapuach Junction, 25 February 2006 a.m.Watchers: Naomi R., Nurit L., Varda G., Chava H., and Chana B. reporting We arrived at the junction, on our way to Huwwara, at about 7:30 a.m. At the crossing from north to south some 100 – 150 cars were waiting, with more joining the queue every minute, and more and more until it was impossible to see the end of the queue. In contrast, in the direction of west to east, we only saw some 5 – 6 cars. The uproar was monumental. The soldiers, who were there in considerable numbers, made no effort to speed up the process. The Palestinians in the unending queue lost their patience, they started to shout, to argue among themselves about pushing and shoving in the queue – after all everyone is hurrying to work at this time of day.The soldiers carried on disgracefully towards the Palestinians. One soldier, a new immigrant from the USA who also made sure we knew he was religious and should not be photographed on Shabbat, seemed to know only two words in human language: fuck off. The rest of the soldiers were less talkative, but this made no difference to the way they carried on. Finally two junior officers appeared, one from the Border Police and the other seemed to be from the Paratroops. The Border Police officer agreed to speak to us finally and indeed as a result of the conversation the ‘fucker off’ was shut up and, most important, another crossing lane was opened. In spite of this the situation continued to be unbearable. Telephone calls to the Army hotline and the DCO were worse than useless – an officer was sent: we are aware of the difficulties; there are problems at Beit Ibba and we have no personnel – excuses, excuses, excuses from those who have no intention to change anything in the slightest. Finally we got the key sentence: the security of Israelis is more important than the convenience of the Palestinians!! (Some convenience!)At this point we were forced to leave as our friend Chava had to be taken to hospital in a hurry due to a minor stroke which did not leave her with any symptoms (to our very, very great joy), but it was a warning which required a stay in hospital to be monitored – perhaps for just today and tomorrow – we shall see.This is the place to thank Varda for her great help and care during those fraught moments.
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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