'Awarta, Beit Furik, Burin (Yitzhar), Huwwara, Za'tara (Tapuah), Tue 17.2.09, Morning

Place:

'Awarta

Beit Furik

Za'tara (Tapuah)

Huwwara

Burin (Yitzhar)

Tags:

Detainees

Passage Restrictions

Observers:

Ninette B., Rahel B., Dina A. (reporting)

Feb-17-2009

Morning

Translation: Hanna K.

It rains all along our way until we reach Beit Furik, and then the skies become clear and the sun shines, which makes things a bit easier for the residents standing in the queues.

At the entrance through the Samaria gate there is no delay, there are about 7 cars leaving, they slow down but pass without any problem.

As usual the entrance to Zeita is blocked, there are a few people waiting near the CP, probably for transportation.

The entrances to Beita and to Marda are open and the army is not present.

07:50 Za'tara Junction -
From the direction of Road 5 the CP is empty, from the direction of Nablus there are 7 cars waiting to pass, there are no cars in the square.

Burin Junction:
From the direction of the village of Huwwara a military jeep is parked, but it doesn't prevent the traffic.

08:05 Beit Furik CP -
There is a sparse traffic of vehicles, although the CP is manned by soldiers they do not pay attention to the people passing through it. We got off the vehicle, made a tour and a few minutes later we left for the Huwwara CP.

08:15 Awarta CP - it is empty.

08:20 Huwara CP -
At the parking lot a relatively low number of cars. A small market has again opened here, coffee is sold in a crate of a van, there is a stall for bakeries and especially sweets.

Pedestrians - at the exit from Nablus, during all our stay at the CP, three checking posts were open, and no more than 10 people waited at any given moment. At the humanitarian queue the traffic was especially sparse.
The soldiers are very relaxed, we don't hear any admonitions directed at the citizens, and from afar one of the soldiers greets us and cynically offers us refreshment.
The citizens come up to the checking porthole after the deposited their belonging on the narrow shelf, hand their ID cards to be checked, the card is returned to them to the counter which is below the checking porthole. Some take their coats and belts off and some pass with only their ID card checked.
The checking is very quick and the waiting period lasts several minutes only.
09:00 there is a detainee in the prison cell, according to the DCO representative he is "bingo" and his papers are being checked, he promised to take care of him we, naturally, cannot approach him.
At the entrance to Nablus there are very many citizens entering the town today, especially many young people, students, probably when they will leave the queues at the exit from Nablus will be very crowded.
At a certain moment there is a big stress on the turnstiles, but before we even draw the attention of the soldiers to that, the stress lessens and the flow of the citizens continues.
Cars - the entrance to Nablus goes without hindrance, although from time to time the soldirs check a random car, and one cars with an Israeli plate is sent back.
At the exit, most of the time, there are 15 cars waiting, there are 2 checking stations, we made a note of a car which was seventh in the queue and passed within 10 minutes.
The fact that we are only allowed to stand near the station for the people entering Nablus makes the observation very difficult, as well as the contact with the people.
09:45 - we left, on the way back too there is little traffic at the CPS.

Location Description

Checkpoint Beit Furik

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)

Za'tara (Tapuah) Checkpoint

See all reports for this place

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

View the full album

Huwwara - the checkpoint and the township

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 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

View the full album

Burin (Yitzhar)

See all reports for this place

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)