Hebron: Arms of a Jewish octopus are spreading in the city
Road 60 is quiet. Large broadening works are being made near Jerusalem. Soldiers along both its sides are watching over them.
At the turnoff to Kalkes and Hebron, Palestinian workers are building an army gate, watched over by Israeli soldiers. Huge Israeli flags wave on an additional hill near Beit Hagai – on Gal Hill, near the industrial zone, and on the hill opposite the Neve Mamre neighborhood of Kiryat Arba colony (what the colonists have named Mitzpe Avichai).
The sign ‘House of Resurrection’ has been blown away by the wind, but a soldier stands guard there. He says this is now another army post and they are keeping the colonists out.
On the other side of the road we speak with F., who tells us that since the colonists have been evacuated from the house, in agreement until the legality of this purchase at court – things have been quiet.
At the disputed house, another army guard post has been built and sports the Nahal flag. Final works are being carried out there before the purchasing families move in. The guard post is near the staircase from which the Palestinians went up to their cars. Now the soldiers demand to see their IDs. In short – another checkpoint.
Along Shuhada Street, once a lively neighborhood and market from which Palestinians had been forcefully evicted, construction works are nearing completion of 31 apartments for Jews, built instead of the army base that had been there. Another tentacle in the octopus growth to complete territorial contiguity with the colonist neighborhood Gv’at Ha-Avot. We could not drive up to Tel Rumeida because the road was blocked with trucks.
Yesterday, the former US ambassador visited the archeological park of the Jewish colony here. No real findings there.
Most of our vigil, though, took place at the ‘160 curve checkpoint’.
Children from the nearby school threw stones at the checkpoint and a chase developed in an attempt to stop them. A force of officers was summoned and they tried to calm things down, or heat them up – each according to his worldview.
A captain called me ‘traitor’.
The school principal and several mothers managed to convince the soldiers to let the children go.
The task of observation formerly carried out by international peace activists has been taken over by Palestinians with dual citizenship. We made contact with them. While speaking with the peace activist, a soldier came to make sure my life was not in danger because she is, after all, Palestinian.
The levels of suspicion and fear rise from year to year. In fact, the whole business is that same old story of dominating another people.
Etzion area / Gush Etzion
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Etzion Area / Gush Etzion is a group of Jewish settlements south of Jerusalem, between Bethlehem and Hebron. Attempts at Jewish settlement in the area began in 1927. 4 kibbutzim were established between 1943–1947 but were destroyed during the Battle of Gush Etzion during the War of Independence in 1948.
After the 1967 Six Day War, Jewish settlement in Gush Etzion was renewed, and since then another 14 settlements and 10 outposts have been established. According to the info-icon of the Civil Administration, Gush Etzion is now 7 times larger than its historic area, and the Jewish lands purchased before the evacuation in 1948 constitute less than 15% of the large settlement bloc of the Gush Etzion Council today, which Israel demands to annex in the permanent agreement with the Palestinians.
The Palestinian localities in the area are concentrated in enclaves, the largest of which is in the east - the Bethlehem area, which includes Beit Jala, al-Khader, Beit Sahur and more. To the west are settlements such as Husan, Nahalin, Al Jaba'a and Batir and small and ancient agricultural villages such as Shushahala, Khalat Sakaria and more. These are scattered on the last agricultural land left by the Palestinians in the area. In the 2000s, many illegal outposts sprang up, taking over private Palestinian land under the auspices of the administration and the army, trying in an extremely violent way to evict farmers from their land and homes and thus expand the settlements. Watch the video about the harsh reality in the Shushalah and Makam Nabi Daniel area.
During the 1990s, the new Road 60, most of which is forbidden to Palestinian traffic, was paved, and a separation wall was built next to it. Access to many of the Palestinian villages and agricultural lands in the area was blocked, and a buffer was created between the villages themselves as well as between them and the lands they owned. The layout of the settlements and the network of roads and checkpoints in the entire Etzion area indicate the intention to create a territorial and transportation continuum between Gush Etzion and Jerusalem.
Machsom Watch members have been active in the for many years. We talk to the Palestinians at intersections, DCOs, villages and Makamim (ancient Palestinian heritage sites) and try to publicize the looting, apartheid and violence they are experiencing. You can read about their activities in the attached reports.
in 2021, after many years of negotiations, the Civil Administration issued a new plan for the central village of Khirbet Bet Zakariya, including construction permits. The adjacent settlers protestated and asked the minister of defence to cancel the permits. Our members are in contact with the village and are trying to involve other organiztions and use public opinion and to stop this cancelation.
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Hebron
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According to Wye Plantation Accords (1997), Hebron is divided in two: H1 is under Palestinian Authority control, H2 is under Israeli control. In Hebron there are 170,000 Palestinian citizens, 60,000 of them in H2. Between the two areas are permanent checkpoints, manned at all hours, preventing Palestinian movement between them and controlling passage of permit holders such as teachers and schoolchildren. Some 800 Jews live in Avraham Avinu Quarter and Tel Rumeida, on Givat HaAvot and in the wholesale market.
Checkpoints observed in H2:
- Bet Hameriva CP- manned with a pillbox
- Kapisha quarter CP (the northern side of Zion axis) - manned with a pillbox
- The 160 turn CP (the southern side of Zion axis) - manned with a pillbox
- Avraham Avinu quarter - watch station
- The pharmacy CP - checking inside a caravan with a magnometer
- Tarpat (1929) CP - checking inside a caravan with a magnometer
- Tel Rumeida CP - guarding station
- Beit Hadassah CP - guarding station
Three checkpoints around the Tomb of the Patriarchs
Raya YeorDec-18-2025Hebron - Yusri Jaber and part of his family
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