The Abu Kbeita family - Galia Oz's conversations with the family's children
It was a long time since we had visited the home of the Abu Kbeita families who live adjacent to the Beit Yatir settlement. There are a lot of children there and Galia had another opportunity to try to talk to them about their feelings and thoughts about their lives. We bought them groceries. Mustafa always sends me pictures to prove to me how he divides everything into five equal parts and he did this time as well.
We especially arrived later than usual so as to be there when the children returned from school. This time we met Mustafa and Abd al-Halim, their wives and some of their children.
Galia will publish the comments as an article in “Haaretz”* and it is attached to the report. They tell of a relatively quiet month, in which the settlers “only” patrol around them. That is, the military coordinator of Beit Yatir, Ze’ev Shapira, and his son Ram as well as Bezalel and Yedidiya Shapira from Talia Farm, which is across the road in front of them. They come with an ATV, go around so as to demonstrate their presence and their right to own all the land. Despite the High Court ruling in the favour of the Palestinians, the settlers are again trying to take away their land. A relatively quiet routine.
We heard about their affairs and their legal struggle after being released from detention in Ofer prison with the injury of another brother, Othman, a few months ago, we wrote in previous reports. We will see if and when justice will be done.
Galia will write about the conversations with the children. A 10-year-old boy recounted the events of that day in detail. The little girls spoke very little.
The parents say that the children are frightened every time they see the ATV and run away, because they don’t forget how they saw the beatings their parents received from the military coordinator of Metzadot Yehuda and his son.
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* https://www.haaretz.co.il/opinions/2024-10-15/ty-article-opinion/.premium/00000192-905a-d2db-ab97-dddb3d6b0000
Location Description
South Hebron Hills
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South Hebron Hills
South Hebron Hills is a large area in the West Bank's southern part.
Yatta is a major city in this area: right in the border zone between the fertile region of Hebron and its surroundings and the desert of the Hebron Hills. Yatta has about 64,000 inhabitants.
The surrounding villages are called Masafer Yatta (Yatta's daughter villages). Their inhabitants subsist on livestock and agriculture. Agriculture is possible only in small plots, especially near streams. Most of the area consists of rocky terraces.Since the beginning of the 1980s, many settlements have been established on the agricultural land cultivated by the Palestinians in the South Hebron Hills region: Carmel, Maon, Susia, Masadot Yehuda, Othniel, and more. Since the settlements were established and Palestinians cultivation areas have been reduced; the residents of the South Hebron Hills have been suffering from harassment by the settlers. Attempts to evict and demolish houses have continued, along with withholding water and electricity. The military and police usually refrain from intervening in violent incidents between settlers and Palestinians do not enforce the law when it comes to the investigation of extensive violent Jewish settlers. The harassment in the South Hebron Hills includes attacking and attempting to burn residential tents, harassing dogs, harming herds, and preventing access to pastures.
There are several checkpoints in the South Hebron Hills, on Routes 317 and 60. In most of them, no military presence is apparent, but rather an array of pillboxes monitor the villages. Roadblocks are frequently set up according to the settlers and the army's needs. These are located at the Zif Junction, the Dura-al Fawwar crossing, and the Sheep Junction at the southern entrance to Hebron.
Updated April 2022
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