On the main street of the Palestinian West Bank town of Huwara, where Road 60 heads north towards Nablus, the shops are all shuttered. Petrol stations, bakeries, banks, the business selling cut stone from the local quarries, the sweetshops and mobile phone boutiques are closed at the order of the Israeli military. At the main crossing points between the west and east of the now divided town, wary Israeli soldiers with machine guns guard a closed yellow metal gate.
On the road itself, the only cars that are moving belong to residents of the nearby hardline Jewish settlements that dot the surrounding hills, whose ultra-orthodox nationalist residents have a reputation for promoting and carrying out violence against Palestinians.
