Hawwara & Beit Furiq
Hawwara, Beit Furiq, 17.8.05, AMWatchers: Miriam S., Nina S. (reporting)8.50 – 11.308.50 Tapuach Junction – We started late, A few cars from the west passing fast, no problems. About 30 cars from the north, passage is nearly free, a few cars are checked and there are no limiting orders. Since e were late we did not stay for long.9.10 Beit Furiq – Free passage to most, except for random check of youngsters, they are not required to pass through the Turnstiles. The checkpoint was opened at 6 AM. We stayed a short while and continued to Huwwara.9.30 Huwwara – is being closed down from all sides as suspicious canister was discovered. After an hour the checkpoint is opened in all directions for fast passage and as the queues have dispersed it is being closed again for the exploding of the canister which is successful. Passage is renewed fast at 11.30Everywhere there seemed to be easy passage and no limitations are apparent.Huwwara was closed at 9.30. The coming form the north were stopped at the northern end of the cement wall and from the south all were stopped before the road to Elon More next to the defunct southern checkpoint. The youngster, who was caught with the canister, was made to sit, on the floor along the fence, between south and north. After a while a DCO officer and a police woman approached him and checked him bodily. They found in his pocket 3 revolver bullets. Then, somewhat later, they made him go and retrieve the canister, that was left in the northern checkpoint, and put it in the field between the 2 checkpoints.About 10.15 Sappers arrived and approached the canister with a demolition tractor. The tractor could not identify the canister in the field and the youngster had to approach it again and point it out to the sappers. At this point it was decided to let every one through and within 5 minutes about a 1000 persons, waiting in the south, passed and it took another 10 minutes for all those waiting in the north to pass. The north being slow, though there were not so many people, as they had to go through the turnstiles and be checked. Then all cars were released and the checkpoint was closed again to enable the sappers to explode the canister. The explosion made some noise and smoke and when all was over business returned to usual.One person was detained for a short while to check his ID and another was handcuffed and after a few minutes released, as he apparently “misbehaved”. I asked the commander if soldiers were allowed to punish Palestinians for pushing in line and he said it was not allowed, but they may detain anybody who prevents the soldiers from fulfilling their duty. He agreed with me this was not the case in question and that his soldiers did not act correctly. I hope he told them too, when he released the detainee in question.
Huwwara
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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 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 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)
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Shoshi AnbarMay-18-2025Huwara: The old houses in Area C
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