Hebron, South Hebron Hills, Mon 23.4.12, Morning
Translator: Charles K.
The same oppressive routine everywhere.
By 7:30 AM all the laborers have gone through the Meitar crossing, and are waiting for their employers.
Highway 60
Deserted, almost no traffic of any kind. Nor are there any flying checkpoints, and we see almost no military personnel.
Hebron
Posters all along the road: Celebrate Independence Day at Mitzpe Avichai…[which, meanwhile, has been demolished and is deserted].
Beit HaMachpela, like Beit HaMeriva, is manned by bored soldiers and surrounded by checkpoints. Next to it, a settler and her children watch from a protest tent, like in a surrealistic play because half the building is still inhabited by Palestinians. One person comes out, goes back in, shines shoes at the entrance, and in general behaves as he would on an ordinary morning.
He’s behind the checkpoints also, he’s also protected by the IDF. Were an alien to appear he’d have no reason to think this wasn’t normal. Maybe it is? We decided to try to find the building at Tel Rumeida which according to reports was purchased fraudulently.
We detoured via “Michael’s house,” quietly, slightly weak-kneed, who knows who’ll try to stop us or how. Two buildings seem to be possibilities, cameras everywhere, soldiers on guard, silence, abandoned bicycles, laundry hung to dry. Tel Rumeida is frightening. Fortunately no one saw us, or threw anything at us, or cursed. Even the soldier [from Elkana, he told us, after asking where Omer is] smiled and didn’t attack us.
It’s been a long time since I was so glad to leave Tel Rumeida.
The rest of the checkpoints are quiet; no one is being detained. There’s nothing unusual happening at the Cave of the Patriarchs.
Nor there anything unusual about how nauseous the town always makes us feel.
Hebron
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According to Wye Plantation Accords (1997), Hebron is divided in two: H1 is under Palestinian Authority control, H2 is under Israeli control. In Hebron there are 170,000 Palestinian citizens, 60,000 of them in H2. Between the two areas are permanent checkpoints, manned at all hours, preventing Palestinian movement between them and controlling passage of permit holders such as teachers and schoolchildren. Some 800 Jews live in Avraham Avinu Quarter and Tel Rumeida, on Givat HaAvot and in the wholesale market.
Checkpoints observed in H2:
- Bet Hameriva CP- manned with a pillbox
- Kapisha quarter CP (the northern side of Zion axis) - manned with a pillbox
- The 160 turn CP (the southern side of Zion axis) - manned with a pillbox
- Avraham Avinu quarter - watch station
- The pharmacy CP - checking inside a caravan with a magnometer
- Tarpat (1929) CP - checking inside a caravan with a magnometer
- Tel Rumeida CP - guarding station
- Beit Hadassah CP - guarding station
Three checkpoints around the Tomb of the Patriarchs
Raya YeorDec-18-2025Hebron - Yusri Jaber and part of his family
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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
Michal TsadikJan-29-2026Umm al-Khair - a security risk for Carmel settlers
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