Huwara or Howwarah (, )[ is a Palestinian town located in the Nablus Governorate of the State of Palestine. Located in the northern Israeli-occupied West Bank, Huwara is on the main road connecting Nablus southwards to Ramallah and Jerusalem, approximately from Jacob's Well.][Rix, 1907, p. 25] According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the town had a population of 6,659 in 2017.
Huwara is a flashpoint town in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Huwara is on the main road to nearby Israeli settlements, leading to frequent clashes between Israeli soldiers and settlers and local Palestinians.[: "It has been a long-time target of settler violence with the aim of clearing the area to allow for the construction of a highway to connect smaller settlements with a larger one in the area."] Most notably, two Israeli civilian-settlers passing the town were shot by a Palestinian gunman in a shooting attack. In response to the shooting attack, the town was rampaged by hundreds of Israeli settlers, who torched Palestinian businesses and houses, leaving one dead and one hundred Palestinians injured.
Israel constructed a bypass road around Huwara to avoid having the Israeli settlers pass through the Palestinian town.
Location
Huwara is located south of Nablus. It is bordered by Awarta, Odala and Beita to the east, Za'tara and Yasuf to the south, Jamma'in and Einabus to the west, and Asira al-Qibliya and Burin to the north.[ Huwwara Town Profile, ARIJ, p. 4] Highway 60 passes through the town.
History
Antiquity
Huwara is an ancient site, and and rock-cut tombs have been found, together with remains of .[Dauphin, 1998, p. 804] It has been suggested that Huwara should be identified with Horon, hometown of Sanballat the Horonite.
Huwara is identified with the Samaritans village of Hivria ().
Crusader period
Diya al-Din (1173−1245) noted that in the 12th and 13th centuries Huwara was inhabited by .[Ellenblum, 2003, pp. 244,
263] Finkelstein did not find any sherd predating the Ottoman era.[Finkelstein, 1997, pp. 686-9]
Ottoman period (1516–1917)
The village was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire in 1517 with all of Palestine, and in 1596 it appeared in the Defter as being in the Nahiya of Jabal Qubal, part of Nablus Sanjak. It had a population of 87 households, all Muslim. The villagers paid a fixed tax rate of 33.3% on various products, such as wheat, barley, summer crops, olives, goats and/or beehives, and a press for olives or grapes, in addition to "occasional revenues"; a total of 14,000 akçe.[Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 132]
In 1838, Robinson described Huwara as a "large and old village".[Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, p. 93] It was also noted as a Muslim village, in Jurat Merda, south of Nablus.[Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, Appendix 2, p. 127]
In the 1850s the Ottoman rulers withdrew their soldiers from the district (to be used in the Crimean War), and hence open hostility could ensue between different Palestinian factions.[Schölch, 1993, pp. 211-227] In 1853, Huwara was engaged in a battle with the neighboring villages of Quza and Beita which left ten men and seven women dead.[James Finn, 1878, p. 298, cited in Avneri, 1984, p. 20]
Victor Guérin visited the village in 1870. He found the village, (which he called Haouarah), to have about 800 inhabitants, and that it was divided into two districts, each administered by a sheikh. A oualy was dedicated to Abou en-Nebyh Sahin.[Guérin, 1874, p. 460]
In 1882, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine described Huwarah as a village "of stone and adobe at the foot of Gerizim, just over the main road. It has an appearance of antiquity, and covers a considerable extent of ground".[Conder and Kitchener, 1882, SWP II, p. 284]
British Mandate period
In the 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Huwara had a population of 921, all ,[Barron, 1923, Table IX, Sub-district of Nablus, p. 25] increasing slightly in the 1931 census, where Huwara (together with the smaller location Bir Quza) had 240 occupied houses and a population of 955, still all Muslims.[Mills, 1932, p. 62]
In the 1945 statistics Huwwara had a population of 1,300, all Muslims,[Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 18 ] with 7,982 of land, according to an official land and population survey.[Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 60 ] Of this, 607 dunams were plantations and irrigable land, 4,858 used for cereals,[Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 106 ] while 129 dunams were built-up (urban) land.[Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 156 ]
The first elementary school was established in 1947. Huwara Elementary as well as secondary schools serves infants from neighboring villages up to the present time.
Jordanian period
In the wake of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, and after the 1949 Armistice Agreements, Huwara came under Jordanian rule. The first elementary school was converted into secondary school in 1962. The first female elementary school was established in 1957.
The Jordanian census of 1961 found 1,966 inhabitants.[Government of Jordan, Department of Statistics, 1964, p. 25 ]
Post-1967–2022
Since the 1967 Six-Day War, Huwara has been under Israeli occupation.
After the 1995 accords, 38% of Huwwara land was classified as Area B, the remaining 62% as Area C.[ Huwwara Town Profile, ARIJ, p. 15]
According to Applied Research Institute–Jerusalem, Israel has confiscated 282 dunams of Huwwara land for the Israeli settlement of Yitzhar.[ Huwwara Town Profile, ARIJ, p. 16]
During the Second Intifada, in October 2000, the Huwara Checkpoint was established north of Huwara, as one of the Israeli checkpoints around Nablus controlling traffic between this city and Ramallah.[Yair Altman, Price tag: Palestinian cars vandalized in Hebron.' in Ynet, 1 March 2011] In March 2012 a Star of David was sprayed on a village mosque.[ Israeli firefighters: West Bank mosque fire likely arson , May, 06, 2010, Haaretz] In March 2013, hours after the Tapuah Junction stabbing, Jewish settlers descended on Huwara in another price-tag attack. They attacked a bus carrying Palestinian schoolgirls with stones, shattering a wind-shield and wounding the driver.
In October 2014, during the olive harvest season,
The Huwara Checkpoint was dismantled in 2011 in order to ease traffic between Nablus and Ramallah.
Its location on the main road, used by both Israelis from four Israeli settlements in the Nablus area and Palestinians from the Nablus area, is a controlling factor of the life in Huwara. The town has many businesses located on the road, which is controlled by the Israeli army to ensure free passage to Jews and Arabs.
2023–present
On 26 February 2023, a Palestinian gunman shot and killed two Israeli settlers aged 19 and 20 as they drove through Huwara. The shooting was condemned by Israel but praised by Palestinian militant groups. Those militant groups said the shooting attack was a response to an Israeli army incursion into Nablus that killed eleven Palestinians several days earlier.
Soon after, Huwara was attacked by hundreds of Israeli settlers[ "US prods Netanyahu to condemn Smotrich ‘incitement’ after call to wipe out Huwara," March 2, 2023, Times of Israel, retrieved March 3, 2023][ "Revenge Attacks After Killing of Israeli Settlers Leave West Bank in Turmoil," February 27, 2023, New York Times, retrieved March 3, 2023] who torched 30 homes and cars (some sources say "200 buildings" across "four Palestinian villages"
Witnesses and video evidence indicated that Israeli soldiers watched, but did not act to halt the violence.[ "Israeli settlers rampage through Palestinian towns in revenge for shooting," February 27, 2023, Washington Post retrieved March 3, 2023] The Israeli army was criticized for not intervening, despite expecting the violence.[Associated Press: "Israeli campaign raises funds for torched Palestinian town," March 2, 2023, The Washington Post, retrieved March 3, 2023] But Israel's West Bank commander, Maj. Gen. Yehuda Fuchs, said the army was unprepared for the severity of the Huwara attack, calling it "a pogrom done by outlaws"—a term historically applied to mob attacks against eastern European Jews in the 1800s and early 1900s.[ "Netanyahu under pressure from US, Israeli protests grow" March 1, 2023, Reuters, retrieved March 3, 2023] The rampage was condemned by both Israeli and Palestinian politicians.
Following the attack, Israel's new far-right Finance Minister, Bezalel Smotrich—now with new authority over the West Bank[ "Emboldened by Israel’s far right, Jewish settlers fan the flames of chaos," March 3, 2023, Washington Post, retrieved March 3, 2023]—stated "I think the village of Huwara needs to be wiped out. I think the State of Israel should do it."[ "State Dept. scolds Israeli minister who called for destruction of Palestinian village: ‘Disgusting’," March 1, 2023, Fox News, retrieved March 3, 2023][ "US faces growing call to deny entry to Israel's Bezalel Smotrich," March 2, 2023, Al Jazeera, retrieved March 3, 2023] The remark triggered international condemnation from the U.N. Secretary General, the United States State Department (which called for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to renounce it[ "Smotrich's DC visit still on amid uproar, but US officials not planning to meet him," March 3, 2023, Times of Israel, retrieved March 3, 2023] The remark came before a scheduled major fund-raising visit by Smotrich to the United States, and multiple Jewish rights organizations called for the State Department to deny him entry.
In October 2023, after the October 7 attacks and taking of hostages, a pizzeria in Huwara posted an advertisement seemingly mocking an elderly hostage. In response, the IDF proceeded to demolish the pizzeria.
Demography
Diaspora
Huwara has a considerable diaspora. Inhabitants of Sufir, Beitunia, Mukhmas, and others can trace their lineage back to this village.[Grossman, D. (1986). "Oscillations in the Rural Settlement of Samaria and Judaea in the Ottoman Period". in Shomron studies. Dar, S., Safrai, S., (eds). Tel Aviv: Hakibbutz Hameuchad Publishing House. p. 355]
Bibliography
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(Saulcy, 1854, vol 1, p. 102)
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