'Azzun, Habla Checkpoint (1393), Huwwara

Place:

'Azzun

Habla Checkpoint (1393)

Huwwara

Tags:

Delay in opening the checkpoint

Observers:

Karin L., Shoshi A (report and photos); Translator: Judith Green

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Nov-4-2021

Morning

At the first stop in Tel Aviv, where we were supposed to receive packages for the shop in Azzun, we discovered a puncture in the car's wheel and were forced to delay our shift by 2 hours.

Habla - Checkpoint 1392

The hour was 13:25 and the gates info-icon were closed. There was a long line of cars on the Habla side, and a shorter line on the Seam side.

The Habla checkpoint gate is closed

Photo:

Shoshi Anbar

Since the students from the village of Arab a-Ramdin got a new school in their village, they no longer travel through the checkpoint and the opening hours have been decreased as follows:

Morning 7:00 - 7:25

Afternoon 13:30 - 13:50

Evening 16:25 - 16:45

A military vehicle arrives and the gates info-icon are opened at 13:45

8 vehicles entered Habla, 15 exited.

As we know, pedestrians do not wait for the opening. Cars are not allowed to exit from Habla.

A truck carrying slabs of marble, a truck with boards and a truck with wrapped packages. All of them were sent back. (The army closes the gates at the checkpoint. They are late in opening, but are also late in closing at 14:00.)

We continue in the direction of Azzun. There are construction works continuing on both sides of the road.

At Z's, we unload packages and go into his house. Z' is not feeling well after an operation that he underwent at Hadassah Hospital. He has another appointment with the surgeon in 10 days. Meanwhile, he is not working and the family is supporting itself through sales in the shop. He urgently needs electrical items, for which there is a great demand in the town.

It is generally quiet in the town, but recently some outside elements have entered and there are a lot of thefts and vandalism. He does not allow his young son to wander around town and he even asked the 2 of us not to walk around and do shopping, as we usually do.

In al Funduk there are examples of coexistence: Israelis prefer to pay less and go to Azzun for dental work and shopping.

Signs also in Hebrew in Al Funduq

Photo:

Karin Lindner

אחרי עזון אנחנו פונות מזרחה על כביש 55 עליו לא נסענו זמן רב. עבודות עפר משני צידי הכביש, מספר גדול של כלים כבדים, מרחיבים כבישים ובונים כבישים חדשים, הכול על פי דרישות המתנחלים. נמשכת ההשתלטות על אדמות פלסטיניות. מספר כלי הרכב הפרטיים הנוסעים על הכבישים גדל ונוצרים פקקים. כבר פחות רואים את מוניות השרות הכתומות. כאשר האטנו כדי לצלם נשמעו מיד צפירות מאחורינו ונאלצנו לוותר.

ממשיכות בכביש 60 לעבר צומת תפוח. משני צידי הכביש הרבה כרמים של עצי זית. התרשמנו שהמסיק בשטח זה הסתיים.

הגענו לחווארה. שינוי גדול נראה לעין. הרבה בתים חדשים וחנויות שלא היו לפני שנתיים.

מקום הפלפל לבש צורה חדשה, אבל המחיר נשאר נמוך כשהיה – 3 ₪.

New construction in Huwara

Photo:

Karin Lindner

Location Description

'Azzun

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Azoun (updated February 2019)

A Palestinian town situated in Area B (under civil Palestinian control and Israeli security control),

on road 5 between Nablus and Qalqiliya, east of Nabi Elias village. The inhabitants are allowed to construct and improve infrastructures. The Separation Fence has confiscated lands belonging to the town's people. In 2018 olive tree groves owned by one of its inhabitants were confiscated for the sake of paving a road to bypass Nabi Elias. Azoun population numbers 13,000, its economic state dire. Its infrastructures are poor, neglect and poverty rampant. In the meantime, the town council has completed paving an internal road for the inhabitants' welfare.

Because of its proximity to the Jewish settler-colony of Karnei Shomron and its outposts, the town suffers the intense presence of the Israeli army, especially at nighttime: soldiers enter homes, arrest suspects, trash the house and sometimes ruin it, as they do in numerous places in the West Bank. At times a checkpoint closes the entrance to the town, so no one can come in or get out.

1393 Habla checkpoint

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The Habla checkpoint (1393) was established on the lands of the residents of Qalqilya, on the short road that connected it for centuries to the nearby town of Habla. The separation barrier intersects this road twice and cut off the residents of Qalqilya from their lands in the seam zone.(between the fence and the green line).
There is a passage under Road 55 that connects Qalqilya to the sabotage This agricultural barrier is used by the farmers and nursery owners established along Road 55 from the Green Line and on both sides of the kurkar road leading to the checkpoint.
This agricultural checkpoint serves the residents of Arab a-Ramadin al-Janoubi (detached from the West Bank), who pass through it to the West Bank and back to their homes. The opening hours (3 times a day) of this agricultural checkpoint are longer than usual, about an hour (recently shortened to 45 minutes), and are coordinated with the transportation hours of a-Ramadin children studying in the occupied in the West Bank.

Dec-18-2023

Nina Seba

Habla, the checkpoint is closed

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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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