South Hebron Hills, Thu 7.3.13, Morning
Purpose of the shift: Activity in the Hashem el-Daraj preschool, together with Huda.
Topic of activity: Winter season
When we arrived, the children were sitting in a circle on chairs or on a floor mat that we brought on a previous visit. 25 children were present. Huda wasn’t feeling well but was able to participate. Perhaps because she wasn’t feeling well, she didn’t want to read the story but instead told it. We brought hats as part of the performance of the story “The hat of Rasha” that tells the story of girl who had the feathers on her hat blown off by the wind until she learned to hang on tightly to her hat and was able to prevent the last feather from being blown off. We also brought a couple of percussion instruments with us in order to reinforce the children who played the role of the wind. We chose children to play the different roles in the story but for some reason, it was hard to get them to enter into the spirit of the story – perhaps because Huda wasn’t feeling well. It seems worthwhile to encourage the children to act out a variety parts of the stories, not just characters from the real world.
The next ‘winter’ activity took place around the tables. It was to cut out and color small pictures that typified aspects of winter and then paste them onto a larger picture of winter that was missing some of the details of winter, such as umbrellas. Each child received a page with the larger picture and a page with the elements that needed to be cut out. There were children who chose suitable smaller pictures and pasted them on the larger picture taking into account the direction they pasted the pictures and what colors to use. They worked beautifully and with enthusiasm. Other children pasted the smaller pictures without looking at the larger picture. Some children continue to be apathetic and need to be prodded and helped to continue working. Huda decided the children should take their work home so that their parents can see what they do in preschool.
Pictures of the activity (Judy – Gan Huda art activity March 7th, 2013
https://picasaweb.google.com/113044451662544057850?authkey=Gv1sRgCNS_j8qy0sCOGA
“Staff” meeting:
Mohamed energetically drilled a series of three holes in two walls in order to put up three long strings from which to hang the children’s artwork. This was an important task because until now there was no way to hang up the children’s work. We sat and talked while drinking tea and eating cookies – we talked about the activityplanned for our visit in two weeks and demonstrated its construction. Huda took responsibility for preparing the materials needed for the activity.
South Hebron Hills
See all reports for this place-
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 TsadikFeb-17-2026Umm al-Khair: The soccer field for Palestinian children is surrounded by new trailers and lots of Israeli flags
-