Haris, Huwwara, Jama'in, Kifl Harith, Qira, Sun 30.10.11, Morning

Place:

Huwwara

Haris

Kifl Harith

Jama'in

Qira

Observers:

Fathia, Devorka (reporting), with Nadim, Translator: Judith Green

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Oct-30-2011

Morning

Haris, Kifl Harith, Qira, Jama'in, Huwwara, Sun. AM, 30.10.11

10:30

We arrived at Haris and entered the building of the local council. As in our previous visits, the secretary was there who explained that, unlike other heads of cities, the head of their council did not receive a salary and therefore was not always in the office. We had with us another Palestinian whom we had met in the past in the case of a Jewish woman lawyer who stole the health insurance money of his family and is today serving a jail sentence. He complained that, in spite of the fact that she was convicted and jailed, his family did not get their money back.

He and the secretary told us that the harvest was about to end. The farmers had coordinated with the army about which days they were allowed to get to their land and harvest. In most cases, there were no problems. In the areas near the settlement of Revava (?), when there were problems, their farmers and those of Dir Istia received assistance from the Rabbis for Human Rights.

The secretary said that, in the past he had worked in Barkan until one day, 3 years ago, with no explanation, they told him that he was forbidden by the GSS; since then he cannot make a living as he would like. He said there were a lot of men like him in the village who do not work at all.

11:30 - Qira

We stopped next to the house of a woman whom we knew in the past. She wasn't at home because she was out at the olive harvest. We heard that there were no problems concerning the settlers' interference.

12:00 - Jama'in

We entered the well-kept council building and met the mayor who wasn't elected but was appointed by the Authority. When we asked about the progress of the olive harvest, he and another man with him told us that, about 2 weeks ago, a farmer whose land was near the settlement of Tapuach was beaten by the settlers, who attacked him with dogs. We suggested that he turn to "Yesh Din" and that he should also post on the bulletin board or in a nearby shop the telephone numbers of civil rights organizations, so that the residents of Jama'in could turn to them directly for help, but he said he was forbidden to do that and that we should give up on that idea.

12:45 - Huwwara

We traveled to the checkpoint. From far away, it looked as though they were carrying out random inspections of vehicles. When we came closer, 3 soldiers approached us and asked who we were and what we wanted there. Clearly, they have never heard of MahsomWatch and, when we explained that we are an organization that opposes the Occupation, we had the clear feeling that they had no idea what we were talking about. They were polite, but immediately called their superiors to clarify how they should respond to our presence. Apparently, they were told to kick us out from the area where we were standing. We stayed there a few minutes more and both they and we left the place.

On the way back, at about 13:00, when we passed highway #5 at the entrance to Kif el-Haris, there were soldiers standing there alongside a jeep and military vans.

Summary: we think that it is not worthwhile to continue patrols along this route in particular, but there is reason to visit additional areas and get to know other villages.

Location Description

Haris

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The village has 4,500 people and they have 5,000 dunams of land. The entrance to the village is blocked and opened arbitrarily, without informing the residents.The village has a seasonal checkpoint that blocks the road to the agricultural land and this checkpoint opens once a year! 2,500-3,000 dunams were stolen from the village in order to build the settlements of Revava and Netafim, which are located west of Haris.

The center of the village is Area B and around Area C. The population grows but the occupation does not permit new construction in Area C.

Kifl Harith

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This is a Palestinian located north-west of the settler-colony town of Ariel, 18 kilometers south of the city of Nablus. It numbers 3, 206 inhabitants, as of 2007. 42% of the village lands lie in Area B, and 58% in Area C. In 1978, some hundreds of dunams of the village’s farmland was sequestered in order to found the settler-colony of Ariel – in total 5,184 dunams from the Palestinian communities of Salfit, Iscaqa, Marda, and Kifl Harith. Dozens of square kilometers were also confiscated for paving road no. 5 as well as road 505 and their buffer zones, and the Israeli electricity company’s power station. Over the years the village has suffered harassment by sometimes-armed settler-colonists, even casualties. In 1968 the army’s rabbinate ruled the maqam site Nabi Yanoun (sanctified grave of the Prophet Yanoun) is in fact the tomb of Joshua, Son of Nun. Another structure in the village, named Nabi Tul Kifl by the Palestinians, has been identified by the Israeli authorities as to the tomb of Caleb, Son of Yefuneh. These sites are located in the heart of the village, near the mosque, and at times of Jewish religious festivities and pilgrimages, the center of the village is illuminated by projectors and thousands of Jews arrive, protected by hundreds of Israeli soldiers. During such a period, a night curfew is imposed on the village and the villagers are forced to stay shut inside their homes.

Jama'in (Zeita)

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Jama'in is a small town, with some of the best quarries in the area. The stone is sold all over Palestine and Israel and even outside the country. The city also has an industrial area. Although they are close to the Ariel and Tapuach settlements, Jama'in farmers have no daily problems with settlers. Harassment occurs mainly during the October harvest season - the settlers sometimes try to drive the farmers out of their plots. Jama'in has its own info-icon water reservoir tower. The water is obtained from sources and paid for by the Palestinian Authority. The city has one clinic that opens only 2-3 days a week. The biggest problem is that there is only one hospital in Nablus in an area of about 10,000 residents. This hospital is too small, does not have enough equipment, and not enough doctors.

Zeita is a village of about 3000 inhabitants near Jama'in and Ariel. In the 1980s, land was taken from the village and transferred to settlements. Farmers in the village have lost some of their income. The settlements are located on the ridges, further away from Zeita, which is in the valley. The village does not often suffer from harassment.
The water sources for Zeita and Jama'in that have supplied water to the villages for centuries have been confiscated by the Mekorot company and the water is flowed to Ariel. Without a reasonable info-icon water supply the villages cannot develop agriculture or any industry.
The electricity comes from the Israeli Electric Company through Ariel and Jama'in.
The IDF oversees the main roads and entrances to the villages.

Qira

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Qira

This village is located in the Salfit district of the northern West Bank, 19 kilometers south-west of Nablus. The village population numbered 1,387 as of 2016. 97.6% of the village lands are categorized as Area B, whereas the 2.3% remaining are in Area C. The Separation Fence erected around the settler-colony city of Ariel separates Qira from its local town Salfit, and necessitates a detour of about 20 kilometers.

In 2010-2015, the women’s center in the village held meetings and workshops shared by the village women and children with members of MachsomWatch.

For further information: http://vprofile.arij.org/salfit/pdfs/vprofile/Qira_vp_en.pdf

Huwwara - the checkpoint and the township

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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 info-icon 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 today is free, but there is still a military presence in the guard tower and vehicle inspections are done from time to time.

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 info-icon 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)

Feb-29-2024

Nina Seba

Huwara checkpoint - the gate is closed

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