Beit Furik, Burin (Yitzhar), Huwwara, Za'tara (Tapuah), Thu 13.11.08, Morning

Place:

Beit Furik

Za'tara (Tapuah)

Huwwara

Burin (Yitzhar)

Tags:

X-ray machine

Crowding

Dogs, dog trainer

Observers:

Rachel A' T. and Tamar S.

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Nov-13-2008

Morning

Translator: Charles K.

6:50 A huge plaza in being built at the entrance junction to Ariel, where a policeman usually stands in the morning directing traffic.

6:54 The entrance to Marda is open; Zeita is closed.

7:00 Za'tara/Tapuach -
No line of vehicles, cars arrive and pass through. One lane open, cars are hardly inspected. Taxis and trucks as well. One soldier sits in the position above the lamp.

A truck is stop for a moment and a line forms immediately.

7:10 A minibus arrives at the checkpoint and is sent to be inspected in the parking lot. The next minibus goes through without being checked.

7:12 The soldiers open a second lane. A third lane is open for special cases.

7:14 The minibus inspection is complete and it continues on its way.

7:28 Burin/Yitzhar junction - A Border Police jeep stands on the side of the road.

7:30 Huwwara -
The parking lot is still half empty. About 50 people on the pedestrian line, which advances quickly.

7:50 A taxi leaving Nablus is detained for inspection. The driver removes packages from the trunk and is sent over to the x-ray machine. He's released after about 5 minutes.

8:07 Awarta -
4 trucks on line. Quiet. Cars go through; we ask about them and are told that they have documents that they're businessmen.

8:30 Beit Furik -
We approach and a soldier takes out a camera info-icon a photographs us. We smiled politely. There's an officer on site (a lieutenant), and we ask to speak to him. He comes over and is joined by the checkpoint commander. We ask the reason for the photograph and he says that its because we're standing where we aren't allowed and it's disruptive. We express our view, and also ask what's disruptive. The officer stammers, uncomfortably, finally the checkpoint commander admits that we're not being disruptive but "some are." He said that a week and a half ago someone from Machsom Watch called him a Nazi. The officer is the area commander and is here on an inspection tour.

There's a dog handler on site. Inspection of vehicles takes a long time and a long line forms. Only one lane open. A bus arrives. The men get off and go through the checkpoint on foot, the women remain on the bus and two soldiers get on and check them.

We moved away and the checkpoint commander came over to talk to us again. They check every vehicle coming from the direction of Nablus, and one-tenth are inspected by the dog handler. But only vehicles entering Nablus that seem suspicious are inspected. We tried to explain that at the current rate vehicles are being checked people will have to wait for more than two hours. He refused to understand but later it looked as if the conversation had some effect on him, another lane opened, the inspections were much faster and the line disappears.

10:00 The end of the shift, and return home.

Location Description

Checkpoint Beit Furik

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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)

Za'tara (Tapuah) Checkpoint

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Za'atara is an internal checkpoint in the heart of the West Bank, at the intersection of Road 60 and Road 505 (Trans-Samaria), east of the Tapuach settlement.
This checkpoint is the "border" marked by the IDF between the north and south of the West Bank, in accordance with the policy of separation between the two parts of the West Bank that has been in place since December 2005.

At the Za'atara checkpoint, there are separate routes for Israelis and Palestinians. In the route for Israelis, there are no inspections and the route for Palestinians inspects. The queue lengthens and shortens suits.

The checkpoint is open 24 hours a day. The checkpoint is partially staffed and the people who pass through it are checked at random.

Sep-28-2023

Shoshi Anbar

Za'atra (Tapuah Intersection). Signs

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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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Burin (Yitzhar)

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Burin

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)