At-Tuwani - the settlers of Havat Maon do as they please in the village
Wednesday, Passover holiday + entry ban for workers from October 2023! There is almost no traffic at the checkpoint and on the roads. From Route 60 we turned to Route 317. We passed by Zanuta, which stands desolate after its inhabitants were expelled.
Abu Safi, who was also expelled from his home, from the same area, was admitted to a hospital in Hebron. This deportation worsened his mental and physical condition because he is a man of the land and was used to working in the fields with the herd…
On the way there are fields, most of which are desolate and neglected and only some of them can be seen to have been harvested (now the harvest season). Only when we arrived at the At-Tuwani intersection, we saw farmers harvesting in the field.
We arrived at Nasser Adra from At-Tuwani. He said that about a week and a half ago, the settlers from Havat Maon (which is almost adjacent to the village), arrived with cows! (This is a bit new)! The cows cause more damage than the sheep and the settlers brought them to the fields and agricultural areas of At-Tuwani. People from the village went to Kiryat Arba to complain. They were not allowed to enter the police station and were told to come the next day! When they called the army, they were told that it was a closed military area… so why are the settlers allowed?!
On one of the occasions when we complained and the police arrived, there were also volunteers from the Villages Group in the village and the soldiers who also arrived wanted to arrest them too… The police intervened, prevented an arrest and ordered the volunteers not to enter forbidden places….
That day, a settler also arrived with an ATV, near Jum’a’s house, at the edge of the village, and started taking stones from the terrace wall belonging to the house. Soldiers were in the area, saw and did nothing! The villagers called the police and started filming him and then he ran away.
In another case, an ATV with villagers who brought water tanks, a settler who came with an ATV wanted to stop them. Luckily, there was a tour that day by a group from the American-Israeli-Palestinian Coordination team. They saw the event of the beginning of the arrest, talked to someone (the details are not clear) and the villagers were released to their homes.
And so, every day, there are such and such events, which make the life of the villagers bitter.
In the school they study almost as usual, but now, because of Passover?!, they closed the Zif intersection and then the teachers can’t get to the school.
Recently, American military personnel have been walking around the area (about a year ago there were Canadians), they visit, inspect, intervene, and help. They have offices in Jerusalem and Ramallah for coordination/liaison with Israel.
We continued to drive. At the Khalet al-Mai intersection, the entrance to Yatta, the only one open from Route 317, but soldiers stop vehicles and check and a huge traffic jam of waiting people forms, both at the exit and at the entrance.
In Zif, you see more farmers working in the harvest.
The Zif intersection is closed with a barrier, there are soldiers, but no cars pass. The villagers pass on foot and cars wait for them on the other side.
We returned to Route 60.
The entrance to Hebron, near the Sheep crossing is also closed with a checkpoint and soldiers.
Qilqis junction, also closed with a checkpoint, no soldiers, and cars waiting on both sides.
Al-Fawwar-Dura intersection, the soldiers stand on the square, in the centre of the intersection, and not at the entrances to t Route he cities, which are blocked with barriers.
The entrance to Samu’ from Route 60, is also completely closed. There are no soldiers, so there is no movement either…
A-Tuwani
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A-Tuwani
The locals came to a-Tuwani during the 20th century from the village of Yatta. They settled in abandoned ruins, utilizing the arable land, pastures for grazing sheep and the abundance of natural caves for habitation. The residents who settled in the caves came from families who could not purchase land for houses in the mother villages, as well as shepherds who did not have enough land to graze. They were joined by clan members who quarreled with other families in the mother locality.
Some of the residents today live in concrete buildings built above the caves. In the area of the village are several water cisterns and an ancient water well called 'Ein a-Tuwani. Local residents are forced to buy water in containers and transport them through many road blocks to the village. With the help of international organizations, an electrical system was installed in the village. In the late 90s of the 20tTh century, an elementary school was established in the serving several small villages in the area.
In 2004, MachsomWatch began visiting and reporting from the Khirbet Tuwani cave village, which suffers badly from the settlers of nearby outposts, and especially from the extremist Ma'on outpost. . The settlers contaminate cisterns, poison the flocks and uproot trees.Particularly notable is the harassment of children from the surrounding villages on their way to school in a-Tuwani, so much so that military escort of children is required to separate them from the attackers (this was arranged following an initiative of the organization's members). In the past year, the escort has been without the vital presence of overseas volunteers.
Near a-Tuwani there are several families who have returned to the caves due to the incessant demolitions of the civil administration (as there is a total construction ban in all of area C). Destroyed are not only residential and agricultural buildings, but also water pipes, machinery. Even water cisterns are clogged up. a-Tuwani residents have created an association for non-violent demolition protests, but in the past year the army’s harsh harassment and settler violence have intensified and escalated. The incident of the small generator confiscation, which left a young man paralyzed, is one of many examples - any legitimate protection of property rights leads to violence and even shootings by the army and the civil administration.
Updated April 2022
Muhammad D.May-13-2025Susiya - at Ahmad and Halima Nawaja'a
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Dura Al-Fawwar Junction
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Junction on Route 60: west - the town of El Dura, east - the Al Fawwar refugee camp. There is a manned pillbox at the junction. From time to time the army sets up flying checkpoints at the entrance to El Fawwar and Al Dura. Al-Fawwar is a large refugee camp (7,000 inhabitants in 2007) established in 1949 to accommodate Palestinian refugees from Be'er Sheva and Beit Jubrin and environs. There are many incidents of stone-throwing. In the vicinity of the pillbox there are excellent agricultural areas, Farmers set up stalls adjacent to the plots close to the road. In recent months the civil administration has set up dirt embankments thereby blocking access to the stalls, and making it impossible for the farmers to sell their vegetables. Updated April 2021, Michal T.
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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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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.May-13-2025Susiya - at Ahmad and Halima Nawaja'a
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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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