'Awarta, 'Azzun 'Atma, Eliyahu Crossing, Huwwara, Za'tara (Tapuah), Sat 21.8.10, Morning

Place:

'Awarta

Za'tara (Tapuah)

Huwwara

'Azzun 'Atma

Eliyahu Crossing

Observers:

Ruti R., and Pnina M. (visitor)

Aug-21-2010

Morning

Translation: Suzanne O.

Azun Atma southern roadblock

9:30 a.m.

A small lorry arrives in the direction of the exit.

A soldier opens the gate, the driver alights and shows his documents and another soldier inspects the goods in the back. They release it after 2 minutes.

A young man arrives wanting to enter. He crosses the roadblock within half a minute.

Again there is no one. We moved to the Nablus roadblocks.

Za'atra/Tapuach roadblock

10:30 a.m.

There are 8 cars queuing. The soldiers inspect quickly, they do not demand documents, they glance at the passengers and signal with their hands to cross.

A lorry is stopped, documents and goods are inspected, two minutes and it crosses.

Huwwara

10:40 a.m.

At the entrance to Huwwara there is a serious road accident. An Israeli and a Palestinian police vehicle direct us to move on.

Huwwara roadblock

10:50 a.m.

2 soldiers are behind concrete blocks at the entrance to Nablus, there is no civilian police presence. Just now they inspected a car at the entrance - looked at the documents and let it cross.

There are four soldiers at the exit from Nablus; there are no cars in the queue. The soldiers wave cars through. Lorries come and go.

Awarta roadblock

11:05 a.m.

The roadblock is closed to traffic. There is a soldier in the lookout tower.

We drove along a winding road via Madma (everything is closed!).

Asira el Kabilia (a crowded village, narrow lanes, just one grocery shop open, not a person on the streets).

In Urif a lot of shops are open, many people on the streets, they smile and wave hello.

In Jemayn it is also quite busy, we drove onto Road 505 which until recently was closed by a high pile of earth (the entrance to Zeita).

Za'atra/Tapuach Junction again

12:00 p.m.

There is now a queue of 18 vehicles. Some are stopped and documents inspected; the inspection is quick.

Huwwara roadblock again

12:10 p.m.

There are no hold ups at the entrance to Nablus, but at the exit there is a huge queue!! It is impossible to see the end of it!

We drove up to the road to Bracha; from there we could observe the roadblock and counted at least 150 cars queuing in 3 lanes which narrowed into one towards the roadblock.

A bus which joined the queue at 12:15 p.m., crossed the roadblock at 12:21 p.m. The crossing is quite fast and the number of cars was also reduced.

On Road 60 a surprise! The roadblock has been removed! When did this happen? There are no concrete blocks barring the way and the traffic can go to and fro. Great!

There is a sign saying Entrance to Area A. It doesn't look like Area A according to my map but we didn't go in.

Road 55

In Punduk too it appears to be an ordinary Saturday, lots of activity. There is no military jeep in the area.

Sha'ar Eliahu

1:10 p.m.

There are at least 15 soldiers and 3 jeeps surrounding a Palestinian vehicle which has stopped on the Israeli side, in the middle of a traffic island. What is happening here?

We stopped to observe from the car park.

A young Palestinian walks around the vehicle, speaking on the telephone.

A second Palestinian sits behind the steering wheel without moving. Every minute someone approaches him and looks. Has he fainted? Is he wounded?

A police vehicle arrives as well as a military ambulance.

1:30 p.m.

An Israeli ambulance arrives, kippah wearing paramedics alight, hug the soldiers but no one is in any hurry to approach the wounded person. For his part he doesn't move! Perhaps he is dead?

1:40 p.m.

An Arab ambulance arrives. They also do not approach the wounded man. What is going on here? We don't want them to send us away so we don't go over, just observe.

The police leave, the military ambulance leaves, the civilian one as well, another 2 military jeeps arrive and still the driver doesn't move!

Suddenly we see him put his leg out, and then put it in again! He is not dead! Phew!

!:55 p.m.

The driver alights, a young man, he supports his neck with his hand and goes over to the Arab ambulance. What a surprise! We were waiting for a stretcher...

2:00 p.m.

The ambulance drives off in the direction of Kalkilya. The car is driven away by the second young man.

Location Description

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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Eliyahu Crossing

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This checkpoint, also known as the Fruit Crossing, is one of the main checkpoints between Israel and the West Bank.
It is located on Route 55 between Alfei Menashe and the turn to Qalqilya and Tzufin, more than 4 km east of the Green Line, in the separation fence, which separates Qalqilya from its lands to the south, thus leaving Alfei Menashe West of the fence - the Seam Zone.
This checkpoint, a few kilometers across the Green Line, is intended for "Israeli settlement in the West Bank and the population of the Seam Zone."
It is managed by a civil company. Palestinians with a special permit for their lands in the seam area info-icon are also allowed to pass through it, on foot, and sometimes by car.

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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Activity with Palestinian women and children in the West Bank

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Study Groups and Creativity Projects with Women, Adolescents, and Children

In the course of the years, connections with Palestinian women have been formed at the checkpoints and in villages in the West Bank. These meetings have engendered a desire for communal activity. At the first meeting in a community center in one of the villages we decided to begin with physical activity: exercise, yoga and also the study of languages: English and Hebrew. Following this, we added several courses in art and handicrafts. These activities received very positive reactions and they expanded to other villages. The groups multiplied and were extended to adolescents and children, boys and girls. There is great interest in this project, participants come regularly, invest a lot of energy and study with pleasure. In this way, in an atmosphere of goodwill and enjoyment, the relations between us deepen and become more significant. This provides the women and the children and adolescents with an opportunity to meet Israelis who are not threatening in any way and express a desire to live together in peace. For us, it is an opportunity to learn more intimately about village life and about the challenges facing the Palestinian woman in her community. This activity is, in itself, a response the efforts of the Israeli government to create a sharp and total division between Israelis and Palestinians. Press here for a full description of these activities.

Hoda kindergarten

In 2010, while on a trip to southeast Hebron Hills, we came upon Hoda kindergarten in the village of Hashem el Daraj. The kindergarten was situated in a small concrete structure with a tin roof, without electricity or running water; it served 15-40 children between the ages of three and six. The village is in C area, that is under Israeli rule, but it receives no support, neither from Israel nor from the Palestinian Authority. Very shortly after our first visit, we initiated educational activity in the kindergarten, including arts and crafts, music, and social activity. We were assisted by an Arab woman educator and the Bedouin driver (who was paid for his services and also served as an interpreter). In 2012 the kindergarten moved to a spacious structure, built with financial assistance from UNRWA, and was provided with running water and electricity. Gradually warm and heartfelt relations were formed both with the children and with Hoda and her assistant. For pictures of this project press here.

Fun and Sea for Palestinian children in the summer

Starting in 2007, every summer about 1500 children from the West Bank are taken to the seashore in Tel Aviv. This is a project carried out by Machsomwatch, executed by four women. The children are accompanied by adults and are given a warm welcome and hospitality. A large group of volunteers and donors make this project possible, allowing it to expand and flourish. If you go to our Blog and Facebook you will be able to learn more about these activities and to get a feeling of the experience that this provides for all participants. You are all invited to join us the summers to come.

Azun-Atma

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A Palestinian village of about 1,800 residents. The settlement of Sha'arei Tikva was established on its land adjacent to it, and the settlement of Oranit was established on its agricultural lands. By 2013, the separation fence had passed through the village and a checkpoint staffed by the army allowed the residents to cross from side to side. After building a massive wall surrounding the village and some of its agricultural lands, the residents went daily for five years to their lands that remained in the Seam Zone through the Oranit agricultural checkpoint (4). Since 2018 it has only opened during the olive harvest and the farmers have to pass daily at the Beit Amin / Abu Salman checkpoint (1447), about 3 kilometers north.

The main entrance to Azoun village: blocked now for several weeks

Apr-12-2019

Azoun: The main entrance to village blocked now for several weeks

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