A drive in the South Hebron Hills roads: most of the entrances and exits as well as roads – blocked
Raniya of the Jadallah family from Fuqeiqis (near Negohot colony) called Mohammad and updated him that they are besieged in their house. Cannot go out. The army has threatened them and the colonists actually reach the family home threshold to graze their flocks.
At A Tawane, Bilal has died, having been in administrative detention for a few years. He exited prison unhealthy, and died this week. The entire area is in mourning so we didn’t meet with families this time. We made a large tour of all the junctions, checking the inhabitants’ ability to move around.
Driving on Road 60:
The Yehuda Farm Outpost (opposite Sham’a) has been expanded, more buildings. Eshtamo’a colony too.
The entrance to Shweika is blocked.
At the entrance to Samu’a is a checkpoint manned by 3-4 soldiers who inspect every passing vehicle. The continued road 60 holds a bypass entrance to Dhahariya that is open right now 0 a track, not a real road. The main entrance to Dhahariya is closed.
At the entrance to Abde, the checkpoint is closed, and on the other side of the road we detected 2 soldiers among the trees, pointing their weapons. Apparently waiting for something or someone to break into the closed gate. Or perhaps in ambush?
The Dura/Al Fawwar Junction is entirely closed with checkpoints. No soldiers in the posts , pedestrians pass from one side of the junction to the other. One of the people with whom we spoke there told us that soldiers – mainly colonists – who served there lately, were harassing workers crossing the junction, beating them up and searching. Only during the last month, when another unit took over, did things become a bit calmer.
The entrance to Hebron near Beit Hagai colony has been closed even before war broke out.
Qilqis/Hebron – here too the entrance has been blocked for ages.
Yatta/Hebron Junction – the entrance to Yatta is blocked.
Hebron – open to pedestrian traffic only.
Road 317:
Ziv Junction closed with checkpoint and soldiers who inspect the passing Palestinians on foot.
At the entrance to Khalat al Mai, a dirt track – a convoy driving a bypass access to Yatta.
At Asael colony we see a new neighborhood being built. Residential trailers in the back side, less seen from the main road.
In summary:
Most of the roads, entrances, dirt tracks and passages to various localities are closed off to easy vehicle passage.
People’s lives are made unbearable – they are forced to waste time, fuel and patience in their attempt to move from one place to the other, trying simply to live…
Location Description
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
Daphna JungMar-16-2025Simia: Farhan and his wife
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