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Hebron - Corona is spreading and there is food and money shortage

Observers: Michal; Translator: Natanya
Jul-07-2020
| Morning

At the Meitar checkpoint it is unclear what is the nature of the closure in the area. Agriculture and commerce workers are allowed to pass through on their way to work. Building workers are required to stay and stay at the construction sites often under shameful conditions.

The checkpoint is functioning but one can clearly see the number of illegal workers who are going through the break in the fence and the vehicles picking them up. It seems that the police prefer to ignore them.

Road 60 is sparse and there is no army presence at all entrances to Palestinian communities.

While driving, I talked to Idris and Mufid on the phone and they say that in Hebron the situation is very serious. There are deaths and 4000 ill. Also in the communities around Hebron. In El Fawwar there has been a death.

Most hospitals are intended only for Corona patients from Dura, Tarkomiya and Dahariya and in Hebron at the Ahli hospital everyone is only busy in Corona.

Idris says they don’t have enough groceries and people are hungry for bread because they are not working and have no money. He says he met two people at the spring  who talked about the  lack of basic staples like rice and sugar. A Jewish friend of his came to visit and when he heard their story, he simply took some money out of his pocket and gave each 150 shekels. It is not necessary to elaborate on the blessings they heaped on the head of this Jewish man.

According to him, the PA is not in control  and does not function.

Mofid says there are many dead because there are not enough medicines and there is a feeling of hopelessness.

.We decided to go  to Hebron.

Idris asks to meet us just to say hello. So we agreed that he would come near the “policeman” checkpoint and that I would stay in the car and talk from a distance. and so it was. By the time we arrive, we see that the southern entrance to Hebron, which is at the foot of Beit Hagai, is open and packed with cars as usual. No noticeable closure.

We arrived in Hebron H2 which is as always a ghost town. All the shops in the area of the Cave of the Patriarchs are closed with no visitors at all. Few people, women and children walk around.

We met Idris wearing a mask and gloves and it is important for him to tell about the difficult routine of life. We meet  on  Shuhada Street near the Sharabati family and I stay in the car.

He arrived with Zidan Sharabati.

He also says that everyone is closed in their  houses and only some shops are opened for a short time. He says that despite the situation, there are attacks from settlers. Children who have nothing to do throw stones and then the IDF closes the area and does not even let them return home form H1.

Near the house of contention that the settlers call the Peace House, serious renovations are being made. Ofer Ohana is walking around there. I saw new graffiti on the bins that were there to fence the renovation site.

I took a picture and that’s what you see in the picture.

This world can turn upside down but the settlers will go their way.

  • 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.
  • 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:

       

      1. Bet Hameriva CP- manned with a pillbox
      2. Kapisha quarter CP (the northern side of Zion axis) - manned with a pillbox
      3. The 160 turn CP (the southern side of Zion axis) - manned with a pillbox
      4. Avraham Avinu quarter - watch station
      5. The pharmacy CP - checking inside a caravan with a magnometer
      6. Tarpat (1929) CP - checking inside a caravan with a magnometer
      7. Tel Rumeida CP - guarding station
      8. Beit Hadassah CP - guarding station

      Three checkpoints around the Tomb of the Patriarchs

      חברון, מתנחלים השחיתו שלט של בית הספר לבנות
      Lea Shakdiel
      May-27-2025
      Hebron, settlers vandalized the sign of the girls' school
  • Meitar checkpoint / Sansana

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    • Meitar Checkpoint / Sansana The checkpoint is located on the Green Line and serves as a border crossing between Israel and the West Bank. It is managed by the  Border Crossing Authority of the Defense Ministry. It is comprised of sections for the transfer of goods as well as a vehicle checkpoint (intended for holders of blue identity cards, foreign nationals or diplomats and international organizations). Passing of Palestinians is prohibited, except for those with entry permits to Israel. Palestinians  are permitted to cross on foot only. The crossing  has a DCO / DCL / DCL / DCL (District Coordination  Office), a customs unit, supervision, and a police unit. In the last year, a breach has been opened  in the fence, not far from the crossing. This breach is known to all, including the army. There does not appear to be any interest in blocking it, probably as it permits needed Palestinian workers without the bureaucratic permits to get to work in Israel. Food stalls and a parking area economy have been created, but incidents of violent abuse by border police have also been recorded. Updated April 2022
  • 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

       

       

      פנים הבית השרוף
      Michal Tsadik
      Jul-25-2025
      The interior of the burnt house
  • Tarqumiya CP

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    • The Tarqumiya Checkpoint is one of the largest and busiest checkpoints where people and goods cross into Israel. It is located on the Separation Barrier close to the Green Line, on Road 35 (connecting Beer Sheva and Hebron). It is run by the Israel Defense Ministry’s Crossings Administration with civilian secuirty companies running the day to day operations. The checkpoint  is indeed open to vehicles in both directions 24/7, but Palestinians are prevented from crossing in vehicles, except in  special cases. MachsomWatch activists visit the checkpoint as it opens at 3:45 am, in order to observe the daily  passage of nearly 10,000 Palestinian workers.  The workers arrive from throughout the Southern West Bank.  Our activists report on the tremendous overcrowding at this checkpoint; they have observed young men climbing and scrambling on the fences and roofs of the ‘access cages’.  This is how the work day begins for those who ‘build the land of Israel’. updated November 2019
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