'Awarta, Beit Furik, Huwwara, Za'tara (Tapuah), יום ג' 27.1.09, בוקר

Place:

'Awarta

Beit Furik

Za'tara (Tapuah)

Huwwara

Tags:

Cab drivers

Detainees

Passage Restrictions

Observers:

Tom K., Moria P. (reporting), Sarah K. (visitor) Sophie B. (visitor from abroad)

Jan-27-2009

Morning

Translation: Suzanne O.

Za'atra

7:35 a.m.

Two crossings are open; there are 11 vehicles in the queue.

Huwwara

7:45 a.m.

When we arrived there were no detainees info-icon . Some 10 people cross slowly via the humanitarian lane. Only one additional lane is open and the crossing is held up, with some 30 - 40 people in the queue.

The "disabled crossing" is locked up.

7:55 a.m.

A taxi driver is detained. He has been warned 5 times not to cross via the ingoing lane to Nablus so that he can pick up passengers, therefore he was flouting orders. One of the soldiers, a familiar face but not a good one, runs, grabs him and while pushing him, more an expression of power than a push, they move towards the cell. The pushing is accompanied by an order: put out your cigarette. (Later during a conversation with the soldiers, they smoked and even offered me a cigarette, why is he not permitted to smoke?)

The gentle and polite roadblock commander promises that he will not be held without reason and, indeed, when we next ask, after about a half an hour, he says that the driver has been released. In spite of the trust I have in him, it was a shame that we could not substantiate his words; the cell is hermetically sealed and barred to us.

Meanwhile we run our eyes over the General's order, ' Sterile info-icon area. Civilians are prohibited (!) (on the order of the General!!)

8:20 a.m. Another lane is opened and the queue of people flows through.

A Palestinian honoured us with an offensive gesture.

In the vehicle queue there are 10 cars, there is no dog handler. There is no queue at the entrance to Nablus but there is an inspection.

The DCO representative and the roadblock commander tell us that in future the roadblock will be for vehicles and the building work, which was discontinued during the war in Gaza, when it resumes will take about two months. There will be 5 lanes plus one for ingoing traffic to Nablus. According to them this will be much easier for those entering and leaving the city gates info-icon . We'll see.

Meanwhile the x-ray machine is in its previous place, far away from the temporary roadblock. This is also the reason for it being left there, as long as the roadblock is temporary the x-ray machine will not be moved (obviously we are talking about a mobile machine, there are those who would call it a vehicle, with wheels and everything) and those crossing with goods have to get to it.

We exposed the violence of the Women in Blue and White towards us to the soldiers; also that we are not paid for our shifts. A fact that should be repeated over and over again.

When I was asked who I am going to vote for, and I refused to reveal it, the roadblock commander guessed "your vote will go to the left, right? Barak?"

Another detainee cuts short our conversation - a 'bingo' detainee with a note torn from a military notebook who is told to report to the DCO ending with the words: "If you don't go, you will be arrested". He was sent quickly on his way.

A bus driver tells us that at Za'atra they have started to hold up buses for inspections taking an hour to an hour and a half, therefore the passengers prefer to take taxis and their livelihood has been reduced.

8:40 a.m.

We left.

Beit Furiq

8:45 a.m.

There is no traffic or people.

Awarta

8:55 a.m.

There are at least 12 cars at the exit from Nablus; we could not count any more because of the bend in the road. The motivated DCO representative does not let everyone cross (yes, yes, he is the one who inspects documents). Any commercial vehicle, loaded or empty, needing inspection or a vehicle with seats in the back which might be used, god forbid, as a taxi is turned back to Nablus, to Huwwara, according to the 'judgment' of the DCO representative. The time of the inspection: about two and a half minutes.

When we arrived one of the drivers stood at the side. He thought he was detained because he has songs on his mobile phone, among them Hamas songs. Even by brain storming we were unable to understand how the mobile phone got into the hands of the DCO representative, but finally the instruction was that he should 'only' return to Nablus and his mobile would be returned to him, so in his case the story had a happy end.

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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