What stands out at Masafer Yatta are demolitions and road blocking
Demolitions and blocking are the two things that stand it in Masafer Yatta, especially today. On Road 317 stand three large bulldozer-carriers for demolitions, which we already did not see.
We could not reach the locality situated opposite the entrance to Sha’b al Botm. All the dirt tracks are blocked with piles of soil and stones, so the “goodwill” of the authorities challenge the improvisation and creative skills of the residents who just need to get home from errands, shopping or going with the kids to the doctor.
Facing us, a woman carrying a small child, both dressed fancily, are visiting family or going to a clinic. As she saw our vehicle and had not yet spotted Mohammad, the woman stood, put her hand on her chest like someone who has stopped breathing for sheer fright. “Oh, I thought you are Mustautaneen (colonists), I was startled” she said, trying to regain her composure. When Mohammad says to her, la titchafi – don’t be afraid, I smiled at her and waved. Now she will climb with her daughter over the piles of dirt, among the rocks and blocks until getting to the road, cross it and walk to Yatta. If she is lucky, she’ll get a cab or a ride and reach her destination more easily.
We drive on, our bones already creaking. Luckily, we were on Mohammad’s brother’s terrain vehicle, which brings us to these blocked localities. We reached a family with several babies, loaded down with shopping and donations of clothes, toys and other things they need. The family has been enlarged with two babies lately. They tell us where and what has been demolished – a large house, three sheep pens and a waterhole. They are glad to see us, and so are we, but it is difficult not to think of the world these babies have entered and what the future holds for them.
- tells us that on Saturday two colonists came with their flock, planning to get close and eat the family’s olive and barley saplings. When they saw him calling the police, they ran off. They cut the fence of the neighboring Nejajra family which was put up to protect the olive tree grove, came in and ate the saplings. The family tried to chase them away and a quarrel ensued. Police and army arrived in 10 vehicles. After talk, two of the N
ejajra family members were detained. Just them. When they returned at midnight, they said they were beaten up and forbidden to speak with the colonists. They were told the colonists are allowed to be here. That’s how it is.
- continues: this morning at 5:30 a.m. colonist Amichai Shilo came with his sheep, almost reaching the house entrance. M. calls the police. “We are on our way”, they said. “Don’t talk with Amichai”. Amichai overheard the conversation and took his distance a bit, after an hour and a half he left. The police never came.
According to M., the colonists call the security officials of Mitzpe Avigail and Mitzpe Yair because they can detain people. But when they see army officers they run off.
On Monday, attorney Qamar Masharqi summoned the army and the police and they arrived with 10 vehicles. The colonists ran off, and still two family members were detained and warned not to get close to colonists.
At that time soldiers surrounded the area and closed off all entrances, as well as searching the home of the Nejajra family. I ask what they were looking for.
M.’s answer: We don’t know. The colonists were long gone, but the search lasted until 9 p.m. as they continued to “watch over” us.
Location Description
Mesafer Yatta
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This is happening in Fire Area 918 in the South Hebron Hills
On the eve of Remembrance Day (the day before Israel Independence Day), 4th May, 2022, the Israeli High Court decided on the transfer and expulsion of residents from 8 Palestinian communities in the area of Masafar Yata in the South Hebron Hills. Residents of the villages have been living under the threat of demolition, evacuation and expropriation since the IDF issued evacuation orders in 1999 based on the 1980s proclamation of their area of residence as a firing zone for IDF drills. None of the nearby settlements were included in this zone. The Masafer Yata Palestinian villages retain a special lifestyle and ancient agricultural culture. They also posess a clear historical documentation that testifies to a Palestinian settlement in this area, generations before the establishment of Israel, long ago in the caves and at later times outside them.
Evacuating residents from the area means destroying these historic villages and leaving entire families (about 2,000 people, children, adults, and the elderly) homeless. This is contrary to international law.
In June 2022, a firing drill started, and life became harder.
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Sha'ab al-Butum
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This is one of the small Palestinian communities in Masafer Yatta in the southern Hebron Hills, near the settlement of Mitzpe Avigail.
Since the outbreak of the October 7, 2023 war, settler violence against residents has escalated greatly, as in the entire Palestinian community. This violent conduct receives full backing from the state and full cooperation from the IDF. The goal is to make the lives of the Palestinian residents miserable and make them abandon and leave.
The population consists of mostly shepherds who peacefully seek to cultivate the land and graze their sheep, whom the settlers treat as a dangerous enemy. They prohibit them from any movement related to herding sheep and cultivating the land and harm everything: trampling crops, breaking olive trees, smuggling herds, scaring shepherds, conducting wild searches of houses, shouting, cursing and threatening - at all hours of the day. "We are Besieged, but will not move from our land," says Lila G. New settlements are springing up around them. At first it's a bus or a truck that turns into residential buildings, on top of which every week more residential buildings and animal sheds are added. With the open encouragement of the current government, Jewish terrorism is raising its head, with authority and permission. The settlers have received army uniforms and weapons, and no one is stopping them. The police, who are supposed to protect the Palestinians from the settlers' riots, sometimes respond to calls for help, but in practice they don't do much more than provide them with a report, and they are required to go and file a complaint in Kiryat Arba Settlemnt police station . Though the settlers' identities are known, they are !never arrested.
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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
Muhammad D.Jul-13-2026Michal with O.
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