Ahmed presents a wooden ladder in the backyard of his property like a naughty child. She admits to being photographed in exchange for hiding her real name so that the Israeli army would not learn the secret that allowed her to leave the house for weeks without using the front door. It's on a street where you'll see more soldiers than locals, more abandoned dogs than moving cars, and an endless row of shuttered windows. All shops there (around 500) have been closed by military order since the beginning of October. “The stairs saved me two problems: that the soldiers wouldn't let me walk on the sidewalk and that a settler would attack me,” he says next to one of the numerous car repair shops, whose signs in Hebrew and Arabic he remembers before Huwara of a ghost town it was synonymous with trade and a transit city. The road on which Ahmed's house is located runs vertically through the West Bank and serves daily both the locals and the Israeli settlers, who are particularly distinguished in this area by their ideological-religious fervor.
Stairs in the backyard of Ahmed's (name changed) house in Huwara, last November. Alvaro Garcia
In a West Bank based on separation (separate streets, barriers to movement…), the main street of Huwara – south of the city of Nablus and home to 7,500 residents – is a strange point of confluence. In quieter times, both Jews and Arabs repaired their cars here because it was cheaper. It is now a flashpoint in the conflict, even before the war in Gaza spilled over into the West Bank, resulting in three daily deaths of Palestinians, mass arrests, raids, riots, Hamas demands and further restrictions on freedom of movement. Back in August, two Israelis were murdered in a car wash. The army arrested the suspected attacker last month (he has not yet been brought to justice) and demolished his family home on Tuesday.
On October 5, just two days before Hamas' massive attack, a far-right Israeli lawmaker – overprotected by soldiers – stood on the same street to set up one of the tabernacles for the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, while other ultra-nationalist settlers attacked businesses and organized a Torah course. The provocation, in retaliation for an attack hours earlier, ended with people throwing stones at each other and a Palestinian being shot dead by a settler.
As on previous occasions, the army responded with collective punishment of Huwara. He ordered the closure of all businesses on the street: gas stations, bakeries, workshops, grocery stores, kebab restaurants [sándwich típico de Oriente Próximo]…Also the shops where you can top up your cell phone card or buy stones from a nearby quarry. “Our lives are more important than the freedom of movement (and trade) of Palestinians. We will continue to speak this truth and work for its realization,” said ultra-nationalist Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir.
Back in February, dozens of radical settlers recorded themselves praying with flames in the background after killing a Palestinian and setting fire to dozens of his homes and vehicles. Another minister of Religious Zionism, Bezalel Smotrich (Finance), immediately defended the “cancellation of Huwara.” But by soldiers and not by civilians, he later clarified.
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Today, the 1,200 deaths from the Hamas attack on October 7th are getting on the soldiers' nerves. It doesn't take you more than two minutes to end a conversation on the sidewalk. You can still see the ruins of a pizzeria that was demolished because it illustrated a Facebook ad with the image of an elderly Israeli woman whom the militants had just taken hostage.
Access to the road that crosses Huwara is closed. Alvaro Garcia
However, Ahmed is happy because it is Friday (the most important Muslim day of prayer) and he can go to the mosque in the other part of the city for the first time since September. The crossing ban has been lifted, although the closure of almost all access routes from secondary roads remains in place. The army maintains security barriers, large concrete blocks or piles of sand that force its residents to take long detours that turn a journey of a few minutes into a journey.
His son Alaa returns from Nablus with plastic bags full of diapers and food. He shops there – where the Palestinian Authority (PNA) rules and there are many open shops – taking advantage of the fact that he has permission to pass through the military checkpoint because he works as a nurse in the city hospital. His children poke their heads through the window bars. “They haven’t been able to go out for weeks. It's not life. It affects their mood. And the same soldier as before [del 7 de octubre] “He played with them, now he’s pointing the gun at them,” he says.
The military is allowing a school minibus to cross for the first time in weeks. They search him at the checkpoint, while in the other direction (toward Jerusalem) cars with yellow license plates (Israeli) and passengers dressed as the ultra-nationalist settlers who predominate in the area circulate easily. Because the West Bank has been occupied territory since the 1967 Six-Day War, Palestinians are subject to their country's military laws and Israelis are subject to their country's civil laws.
Huwara Main Street. Alvaro Garcia
The armed forces have opened their hand a little (50 shops on the street can reopen) because Transport Minister Miri Regev inaugurated an Israeli-only road on November 12, located at a roundabout guarded by soldiers. The settler leadership has been pushing for construction for years due to increasing attacks in order to be able to move without encountering Palestinians. It serves the 8,000 residents of four settlements linked to cases of violence against Palestinian civilians. According to Israel's main peace NGO, Shalom Ajshav (Peace Now), the cost to the state treasury amounts to 43,000 shekels (almost 11,000 euros) per settler.
Now that they can use a first section, the settlers insist on using both. One of its activists, Rabbi Menachem Ben Shahar (who in a video called the destruction of all houses in Huwara “ethical and legitimate”) believes that abandoning the old street would give “a clear victory to the Nazi terrorists” in the city. . According to national television channel 14, the army gave in to “strong pressure” led by settlers’ representative in the area, Yossi Dagan.
“They want to show their presence, show that they can hold on and keep the shops closed,” protests Mayor Moin Dmeidi. He, on the other hand, had to coordinate with the Israeli military authorities for weeks in order to be able to move or so that the baker could deliver bags of flatbread to the houses. He measures his words because his situation is delicate: Huwara is in the West Bank (B), security is under Israeli control, and the ANP's day-to-day administrative activities are subject to the division established by the Oslo Accords (1993). , even who doesn't want to blow up the bridges.
Moin Dmeidi, mayor of Huwara, on a street in the city. Alvaro García
“Theoretically we can move, but see? People don't go out. He is afraid. More from the settlers than from the soldiers who also protect them. “Even from the soldiers who you could never talk to before and who are now afraid that they will shoot you,” says Murad Raziq Sharab, a 33-year-old mechanic who has lost his customers. All of them, he says, were Israelis. As he speaks, a group of soldiers approaches in an SUV to make it clear that the conversation cannot attract more people and that a group is forming.
Today, the dimensions of the carrot and stick sometimes depend on the mood of the military guarding Huwara. “I could drive into the city center, but I don't dare. Sometimes they don’t let me in and I’m always afraid that they won’t let me go home,” says Alaa.
The situation destroys Huwara's pockets. It's midday and no one has entered the sisters Jitam and Itab Ahmad Udi's shop yet, they say without a trace of self-pity. “People hardly have any money for the things we sell anymore,” says Jitam. These are cosmetics and gifts made of plastic or paper. Cheap, but unnecessary. Something similar happened to Suleiman Rami Odi, 28 years old. It shows a long list of names written in pen on white cardboard. “You are all the ones I trusted today. You will give it to me. I can't burden her. These are people who earned about 2,000 shekels [unos 400 euros] and now he doesn’t work anymore.”
The sisters Jitam (left) and Itab Ahmad Udi in their shop in Huwara.Álvaro García
About three meters save 21-year-old Karim Ahmed's grocery store. It lies on the “good side” of Huwara (the side that doesn't need to be closed) and almost touches a yellow steel barrier that soldiers can climb to make way for the road. This hasn't happened since October 7th. The shelves are half empty and there is no longer any tobacco, which is as sought after by Palestinians as hummus even with flatbread. “The suppliers don’t dare to come any closer,” he explains. “And the soldiers are not here today. If there are three or four of them staying next door, the customers won't come.” He estimates that before the war in Gaza he made a box worth 4,000 to 5,000 shekels (1,000 to 1,200 euros); There are now around 1,000 (250 euros).
A street blocked by the Israeli army in Huwara, from Karim Ahmed's shop. Álvaro Garcia removed
Ahmed shows images from his surveillance cameras on his cell phone. Three soldiers are seen entering the store, stealing some lighters from the counter and leaving the store kicking things. “Sometimes they take the tobacco without paying and you realize it's not about the money. “That’s because they can,” he says. “To show that they can do it.”
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