Za'tra, Huwwara - the annexation is already here

Place:

Beit Furik

Huwwara

Za'tara (Tapuah)

Tags:

Updates during Corona

Property Confiscation

Observers:

Nina S. (reporting), Ronny P. (photographing); Translator: Judith Green

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Jun-25-2020

Morning

Life is now more difficult - the DCO takes care of part of the responsibilities, even without the cooperation of the Palestinian DCO.

Tapuah Junction (on the way to Huwarra), is open, as well as the entrance to Nablus from highway 60. In the middle of the Junction, there is a kind of permanent signboard - installation - "I love Shomron", with a red heart.

In the center of Za'tara Junction, a permanent sculptured sign

Photo:

Ronny Perlman

In the center of Za'tara Junction, a permanent sculptured sign - "I LOVE SHOMRON", with a heart

We travelled to the DCO which is near the Junction leading to the entrance to Nablus, at the turnoff from the road to Elon Moreh. At the Junction, is a signboard "Jews and Arabs want to get home in peace".

בצומת שילוט" יהודים וערבים רוצים לחזור הביתה בשלום"

A big sign at the junction

Photo:

Ronny Perlman

At the junction, a big sign "Jews and Arabs want to return home safely"

In other words, annexation is already here. At the entrance to the DCO, there are a few people milling around outside. There is a kiosk selling coffee and water and sweets. Hot.

In our conversations, people emphasized that the economy has hit bottom, no one has any money. Checks aren't covered, so merchants who buy supplies don't have the cash to pay for it. For medical problems, if they are well documented, it is possible to receive a permit to enter Israel.

We met the owner of a large tractor (tractor that excavates) whose vehicle was confiscated 3 weeks ago and was standing in the courtyard of the Civil Administration info-icon (we saw it). It had been confiscated because the owner of the was working on Area C, not in building but in repair of the sidewalk. With no previous warning, the IDF arrived and confiscated the vehicle. Now they are asking for 20,000 NIS to release the machine and, for every additional day that it remains in "storage", the Civil Administration raises the price for releasing it. From where is a person, in these days, going going to raise such a sum of money to release the vehicle?? Of course, he has no work now and the chances that he could find such a sum by loans here and there is about zero. On the other hand, the State of Israel profits!

Others told us how there is no money and whatever they can scrape up is spent first of all for food, and then on health, and then there is nothing left. Once again, they spoke about how everyone who works in Israel pays some middleman 2800 NIS every month so that he will have the opportunity to get clearance for working in Israel. The low salary is made even lower.

They also said that it is possible to bribe people to get into Israel. They claim that there are soldiers who give entrance permits for bribes. But no one is willing to give testimony about it.

Corona is not such a problem here, there was only one case in Nablus, but not in the surrounding area; most people are not wearing facemasks, also in Hawarra village.

Where the checkpoint for Beit Furik used to be, it is quiet. A lot of vehicles enter and there is a pillbox which seems to be occupied.

Why do we take the trouble to report in Corona times as well?

Because democracy’s watchdogs have fallen asleep on their own watch, so Israeli citizens have no idea what is actually happening in the Occupied Territories, especially now.

Day and night, Israeli soldiers (as the State’s emissaries) help extreme settler-colonists take the law into their own hands, unhampered. They do not stop even in days of a raging pandemic and do not hesitate to harm Palestinians – their bodies, property, and sources of livelihood.

Unceasing harassment of the weakened Palestinian population inflicts psychological harm as well. All – from babies through and including the elderly and the ill – are open prey to Jewish violence and terrorism which the settler-colonists are only too eager to exert.

We of MachsomWatch will not cease to report, certainly not now during these Corona times and under the threat of annexation, about the settlers’ increased rampages, those who hurry to set facts on the ground helped by the Israeli army.

Israel rules the West Bank, and by force of the Geneva Convention, article no. 27, it is committed to enforcing law and order there. The inhabitants of these Occupied Territories have the legal right “to decent treatment of their body and dignity, and should be especially protected against any act of violence”.

Ironically, this is not at all upheld.

Nor shall we cooperate with the commonplace ignoring of the Palestinian people’s suffering, and with the Israeli public’s indifference to it. We shall continue to follow up closely and report the goings-on in the West Bank, in its villages and encampments.

No one should be able to say ‘We knew nothing, we heard nothing’

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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