Awarta, Beit Furik, Burin (Yitzhar), Huwwara, Za'tara (Tapuah), יום ה' 1.5.08, בוקר

Place:

'Awarta

Beit Furik

Za'tara (Tapuah)

Huwwara

Burin (Yitzhar)

Tags:

Children

Arbitrariness, e.g. an arbitrary decision

Flying Checkpoints

Passage Restrictions

Dogs, dog trainer

Observers:

Watching and reporting: Rachel A., Moran A., Tamar S., and a guest Inbal

May-1-2008

Morning

Tranlation: Suzanne O.
It is the May Day holiday in the Palestinian Authority.

Shomron Gate

6:40 a.m.

The roadblock is functioning. There were relatively many soldiers. Half a kilometre later there was another small roadblock - a police car at the side of the road. We did not see it stop any cars.

Past the Barkan industrial estate a police car is parked at a small junction.

On the left we see the road works as a road is laid between Ariel and Shomron Gate.

6:57 a.m.

The entrance to Marda is open but concrete blocks bar the one to Zeita, as usual.

Tapuach

7:02 a.m.

There are about 15 cars in the queue from the direction of Huwwara. The unit at the roadblock is made up of reservists; the commander tells us that there are no limitations. A taxi in the car park is being given a sniffer dog search. The passengers are from Jenin. The inspection is completed relatively quickly. Two lanes are open. The soldiers stop a car with four passengers which has come from Huwwara. The dog checks the car and the soldier asks the passengers to sit on the pavement during the inspection. At the same time a coach with women and children arrives and it too is sent to be inspected; after about three minutes it continues on its way.

At the Menorah roundabout across the road a lone soldier stands behind a concrete block observing.

Yitzhar/Borin

7:25 a.m.

The crossing is open.

Huwwara

7:30 a.m.

There is a soldier at the bus stop in front of the roundabout. The car park is almost completely empty. There are no detainees info-icon and almost no pedestrians. From the direction of Nablus there is a queue of about 12 people. Nahal soldiers are serving at the roadblock. Meanwhile the car park fills up a little.

Awarta

8:03 a.m.

The roadblock is empty. One back-to-back is loading in the car park.

Beit Furiq

8:25 a.m.

There are about 17 cars in the queue; one of the drivers tells us that he has been waiting an hour already. All of the drivers we spoke to told us that today is a ‘bad day' at the roadblock. Only one lane is open for both directions.

There is a group of boys on holiday wanting to go to Nablus but they are not allowed to cross without their parents. They are on their way to Ramallah and a coach is waiting for them on the other side of the roadblock. They stand by the turnstiles waiting for permission from the DCO. A doctor who is crossing takes two boys across with him. He comes back and tries to take another two across but without success.

A coach with children and their mothers, all from Beit Furiq, has been waiting for about 20 minutes at the roadblock. The soldiers refused to let them cross and now they await permission from the DCO. Rachel contacts the DCO and was told that they know nothing about it. Meanwhile all the passengers on the coach are waiting. The driver asserts that he has a permit for the coach and all the passengers have permits, he does not understand why they are not allowed to cross. The soldiers on their part claim that coaches need special coordination and this has not been done.

9:33 a.m.

The coach gets a permit and crosses having waiting for an hour and twenty minutes at the roadblock.

9:35 a.m.

The older boys from the group, who have permits, are permitted to cross. The younger ones debate whether to go home to Beit Furiq or continue to wait.

9:40 a.m.

The rest of the children cross too.

Huwwara

9:52 a.m.

The car park is full. We just drive by without stopping.

Tapuach

9:21 a.m.

There are 52 cars from the direction of Huwwara in the queue.

Marda and Zeita: the situation is as it was when we drove past this morning.

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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Burin (Yitzhar)

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Burin

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)