Activists from Israel and abroad, risking their lives and accompanying the Palestinians day and night in all the occupied territories
Travelling on Route 60.
Checkpoints:
Samu’ open
Dahariya closed
The Sheep Junction, to Hebron open, to Yatta closed.
Phone call with Najah from Umm Qusa, whose wife is due to give birth, and we asked how they were doing. Najah says that several settlers, including Yoav Etzion from Mitzpe Midrag, stole their solar panels, harassing them every day.
Schools opens on the 8th of the month and not on the first, apparently because of budget problems of the Palestinian Authority.
We also called Farhan from Simiya, who had a catheterization and asked how he was. He thanked us and said that he was doing better.
In Abda, a military tractor was piling up piles of dirt to close the entrance to the village. Two armed soldiers, a pickup truck blocking access.
Continuing the journey towards Zif. Opposite Mitzpe Zif, across the road, we notice a new sign pointing to an outpost we have already written about, not far from the Bani Naim intersection. It turns out that it was named Aviad
This is a new neighbourhood in the municipal area of Kiryat Arba, with ten families and its goal is to disrupt Palestinian settlement.
I am attaching details about the place from a WhatsApp group I shared with it.
We stop at Nabil’s grocery store to buy water and sweets for the children.
We arrive to meet our friends in Umm al-Khair and to document the additional trailers the settlers have placed in the area that was cleared by the murderer Yinon Levy, who is roaming free. The first thing you see when you enter the playground area is a canvas picture of Odeh Hadalin, who was murdered by Yinon Levy, and a circle of stones that marks the place where the late Odeh fell.
In Umm al-Khair, two volunteers, an adult from Canada and a young woman from the United States, have been staying in the village for several months.
Salem Hadalin talks about difficult, sad days. He sleeps with his clothes on for fear that he will have to get up in a panic. The rest of his siblings and cousins are also sitting with us, and everyone is in terrible sadness and pain.
The head of the Carmel settlement passes near where we are sitting, in the playground and where the residents and visitors meet. A few meters away, he opens the yellow checkpoint and arrives at his house. Just like that, free.
We met a group of international activists who arrived today, and ‘Id accompanies them and gives an explanation about the place and the surroundings. Every day and even at night, there are activists in the village.
I talk to them about MachsomWatch and they greatly appreciate and praise our activity over the past 25 years. They come from different countries for several months and live in Yatta.
The Canadian volunteer, a traditional Jew, tells me that last Friday the settlers came to the trailers that were parked right next to where we are sitting, held a loud Shabbat prayer, and he, who knows the singing and prayers, felt great shame.
We left games, a microwave, and clothes.
I find it appropriate to write here my immense appreciation for the activists, both from Israel and abroad, who take physical risks and accompany the Palestinians day and night in all the occupied territories.
The anguish and sadness never end.
#ThisIsTheOccupation
Location Description
Hakvasim (sheep) Junction
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One of the roadblocks (earthworks, rocks, concrete blocks or iron gates) that prevent transit of vehicles to Route 60 in the southern West Bank and block the southern entrance to Hebron. A manned pillbox supervises the place.
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Masafer Yatta*
See all reports for this placeSouth 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
Smadar BeckerApr-10-2026New Israeli flags placed for miles on Highway 317 to prove who is sovereign
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Umm al-Khair
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Umm al-Kheir
A Palestinian village in the southern Hebron governorate, populated by five families. The Palestinian residents settled there decades ago, after Israel expelled them from the Arad desert and purchased the land from the residents of the Palestinian village of Yatta. The village suffers from the violence of nearby Carmel settlers, from water shortage and is subject to frequent demolition of buildings by the Civil Administration.
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Zif Junction
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Zif Junction located on the crossroads that directs towards Road 356 to Yata. Yata is the district city of the southern Hebron Mountains. Usually, this junction is open to traffic. The nearby pillbox is unmanned. But the army and police are present occasionally, sometimes setting up a checkpoint and sometimes detaining residents from the big city. Often, the Israeli policemen inspect vehicles and distribute driving reports to Palestinian vehicles. s
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