South Hebron Hills
I drove again on Friday to Kibbutz Harel to collect the kindergarten equipment Ruti Ristik offered. I filled a Ford commercial vehicle with goodies.
I reach the Meitar checkpoint Sunday at 05:51. It’s very crowded, unusual for this hour.
Here’s what the Internationals tell us: the 12 detainees – they say there were 13 – about whom we reported last week were held, cuffed, until 11:00. Then all but one was released.
They also told us that a tractor carrying a water tank had been confiscated in one of the villages.
5,400 people had crossed by 06:42, when we left, and traffic was still heavy.
Protective concrete barriers have been erected at bus stops along the road. The hitchhikers aren’t standing behind them.
Below the NG 240 emplacement is an entrance to one of the Palestinian villages. A military jeep with four soldiers is parked there as a flying checkpoint.
At 07:12 we arrived at the kindergarten in Zif. Two children were already on the seesaw and they were happy to help us unload the vehicle whose load included kindergarten chairs and mattresses.
We were told the children refuse to participate in the regular activities and want only to play with the games we brought.
On our way back we saw the southern entrance to Hebron was, in fact, open but a military vehicle stood beside it; there was at least one female soldier in the group.
08:00 Al Fawwar junction. No military presence. Two famers had erected stands just before the junction to sell vegetables fresh from the field.
08:39 The Meitar checkpoint is empty. We can see on the hills people in Israel illegally.
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
Muhammad D.Jul-5-2026Fares's guestroom in Shweika
-