Settler Elyashiv Nahum harasses residents of Zanuta who were expelled to Shweika
Fars Samamra was expelled from Zanuta shortly after October 7. After years of abuse by Yinon Levi, the villagers were expelled. Fares and his family, and 2 other families moved to the nearby Shweika.
On the way, we see his sons grazing their sheep in a different area than usual. The pasture they used to graze on is closer to the Elyashiv Nahum farm (Yehudah Farm) and each time Elyashiv or his emissaries appear and remove Fares’ sons. After a while, the herd is led back to the pen.
Isma’il, the son, sits with us in the shik (the place of meeting) and I ask about what Elyashiv Nahum, accompanied by the army, did to him a few months ago. I have already told about it, but hearing it from him, as someone who went through it, sounds more shocking. They raided his house, for no reason of course, put a flannel over his eyes and took him to the base in Otniel. He sat there for several hours, handcuffed and humiliated.
Why was he taken? Because it’s occupation.
Fares and the boys show us a video from a case like many others we know.
https://www.facebook.com/share/v/18KkzZGJvU/
Oda Abu Sharakh from the village of Tiran (near Shweika), in his 60s, was visited by Elyashiv, his little daughter, and another settler. It’s worth listening to their conversation, Uda speaks Hebrew.
We go out to see the progress of the construction of the new outpost that we have reported on since the day it began, filmed from Route 317, near Zanuta. This time we filmed it from the back. You can see the rocky soil being cleared, probably in preparation for planting. We’ll continue to report.
This is the period when the sheep owners prepare a variety of dairy products: Yogurt, labane, zivda (butter), and ‘afig, a yogurt stone. In another time and place, everything seems peaceful and pastoral. The army roaming everywhere and the takeover of outposts and settlements, brings us back to the bitter reality.
#ThisIsTheOccupation
Location Description
Mesafer Yatta
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Masafer Yatta
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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 TsadikJul-25-2025The interior of the burnt house
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Zanuta
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Zanuta was a small rural Palestinian locality until its demolition. It was situated in the space around the town Dahariya in the South Hebron Hills, about a ten-minute ride from Meitar Checkpoint. There are documented remains of a large Byzantine settlement in the area. Since the Ottoman (Turkish Empire) period (1516-1917) Zanuta was documented as a locality of shepherds and farmers who live in the remains of the ancient structures and the residential caves near them.
Two individual ranches of colonists were created next to Zanuta: Meitarim (of the colonist Yinon Levi) to the east, and Yehudah (of the colonist Elyashiv Nachum) to the north. Endless attacks, harassments and attempt to chase away the Zanuta villagers have originated in these two outposts.
Until the expulsion, four families lived in the village: A-Samama, Al-Tel, Al Batat, and Al-Qaisia. Farming constituted their main economic activity and employed most of the villagers. The total area of the village is about 12,000 dunams, of which about 3,000 are tended, mostly with field crops.
This village has never had a master plan that would legitimize construction permits. The Civil Administration claimed it was too small and the distance to the next town, Dahariya, too great. For this reason, the Israeli authorities pressured the villagers to leave. The colonists did the job for them.
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