Beit Furik, Burin (Yitzhar), Habla, Huwwara, Madama, Nabi Ilyas, Za'tara (Tapuah)

Place:

Beit Furik checkpoint

Burin (Yitzhar)

Habla

Huwwara

Tags:

Observers:

Carol Cook, Fathiya (reporting); Translator: Judith Green

Leave this field blank

Mar-23-2017

Afternoon

Location Description

Beit Furik checkpoint

See all reports for this place

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)

Madama

See all reports for this place

Madama

This village is situated in the Nablus district, about 5 kilometers south of the city of Nablus, at an altitude of 517 meters above sea level. Madama was founded 400 years ago and its villagers originate from the Arabian Peninsula. It numbered 1,728 inhabitants in 2007. 62% of the village area is categorized as Area B, and 38% as Area C.

Over the years, hundreds of dunams have been robbed of the village for the purpose of building settler-colonies, army bases, and paving roads:139 dunams were sequestered to found settler-colony Yitzhar south of the village, and the land was also confiscated for paving road 60. The road and its buffer zone (75 meters on each side) lined by barbed wire fences separate the village’s farmlands to the north and the village farmers are denied access to tend them. The road also separates Madama and Burin, two villages with close neighborly ties, and now not able to access the road directly.

The settler-colony Yitzhar has become a daily threat to the village. The settler-colonists planted trees in fenced-in groves, steal crops, burn, uproot and vandalize Palestinians’ trees, and harm both holy sites and property. They also attack the Palestinian landowners in order to terrorize them and prevent them from accessing their lands.

For further information: http://vprofile.arij.org/nablus/pdfs/vprofile/Madama_vp_en.pdf

Za'tara (Tapuah)

See all reports for this place

Za'tara (Tapuah)

Za'tara 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 Tapuah 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'tara 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

View the full album

Huwwara

See all reports for this place

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 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 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)

Jul-24-2024

Fathiya Akfa

Huwara: The hill east of Givat Ronen is burnt

View the full album

Burin (Yitzhar)

See all reports for this place

Burin (Yitzhar)

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)

A-Nabi Elias

See all reports for this place

A-Nabi Elias this is a Palestinian village in the northern West Bank, east of Qalqilia on Road 55, north-east of Alfei Menashe colony and west of Karnei Shomron colony and the Palestinian city of Nablus. As of 2016, the village was populated by 1,458 inhabitants.

Near the village is a maqam (holy site memorializing a sanctified person) - the prophet Elisha. Until 2021 Road 55 crossed the village. Then a bypass road was paved through olive groves that were sequestered from the villagers. Consequently, the farmers were left with small olive groves that they could not access nor cultivate. Inhabitants protested against the road for weeks, supported by peace activists, but nothing helped and the road is now a given fact.

The village's main street had been a shopping center for all residents, including colonists. We even saw a Kashrut (kosher food) inspector in a butcher shop close to the falafel stand… The bypass road, according to tradesmen, has impacted their businesses and clients, while others claim that there are customers now for parking has become easier.

Alfei Menashe and Tzofim colonies nibble at the village lands from the north and south and get closer to it all the time. Colonists of Alfei Menashe have outdone themselves, sending their surplus sewage from the oxygenation pools toward a-Nabi Elias land, even reaching the houses.

The villagers are known as seekers of peace. For years there was no hostility towards Israelis. On the contrary, we were always welcomed warmly and stopped there to enjoy their delicious, inexpensive falafel.