Demolition of the Simia school
The banality of evil
Challenge 13 School – التحدي in Simia
We have already told the story of the school. The busy Route 60, which the children have to cross to study in neighboring Samua, prompted the parents to desire to build a school in their village. One of the parents donated a plot of land. The teachers and permits were obtained from the Palestinian Authority. The military and civil administration authorities had already destroyed the school and the children moved to another house, which is the village council house, and built tents adjacent to it that served as classrooms. Yesterday the Civil Administration arrived at the school and said that the tents would be dismantled.
Today the floor of the buildings was destroyed.
From Route 60 we saw the army vehicles and the Border Police. The first thing we encountered was a border police officer who took photographs. Then they tried to remove us and when we said that we would not leave until we had been shown that it was a closed army area. They hurried to bring it. The policewoman actually pushed me hard with all her might.. I kept muttering to her, “Honor my old age”
They asked for ID cards and took pictures of mine.
They allowed us to come closer while they folded the tents. You can see how much army there were to control so few civilians.
The sign of the school which has been destroyed lies on the ground.
And as Yael said…. The worst is the silence and there is no complaint that can be made because this is the state of Jews only and neither we nor the Palestinians know where to take our shame and fear
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
Yael ZoranMay-22-2025The bumpy road to Ata's house
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