Hebron, Sansana, South Hebron Hills, Tarqumiya, Tue 18.11.08, Morning
06:30-10:00
Sansana-Metar CP
6:40: a short line at the checking lane and two buses of prisoners' families; everything flows as usual and no one has any complaints. We are told that traffic is heavier only on Sundays and that the wait then is a bit longer. The guard at the pillbox knows the Red Cross escort by name, and they talk.
On the back-to-back goods transfer lane there are already seven trucks on either side – the gate opens at 7:00.
Road 60
Samo'a – main entrance is open.
Dahariya – taxis are waiting on both sides of the stone blockages. More Palestinian traffic on the road.
Dura Alfawwar – two border control jeeps by the pillbox, perhaps because of what I read on ynet later, when i was back home: "IDF forces have arrested 32 Palestinian wanted suspects throughout the west bank. In Elfawwar, south of Hebron, there were 20 such arrests and two dismantled hunting rifles and scores of bullets were found. IDF reports that all suspects have been transferred for interrogation to the security forces."
Sheep Junction: Pillbox is manned, and traffic flows.
Hebron
Today we have won the great honor of being escorted by the police for the duration of our shift: we were stopped already at the curve, entering the southern part of Kiryat Arba, next to the Federman Farm. Our identity cards had all been taken, in order to check whether to allow us in. There is no "closed military zone" edict and legally, they cannot prohibit our entry, so permission was granted but therewith, also the instruction to escort us.
This is a rather unwanted pleasure. Palestinians refrain from talking to us in the presence of the police and we, too, do not stop by, at Basm's grocery.
Pharmacy CP – children walk through quickly with their bags, mostly unchecked.
Tarpat CP – yesterday, there was a road accident there, and the police asks us not to park there. But there are no people there, and only a more orderly shack above the soldiers' heads, and the CP as a whole.
Tel Rumeida CP – back to how it was before – no one is detained. The children's bags are not checked as before.
The Disputed House – at the CP there are borders control policemen, checking whoever walks past. They tell us they are positioned there only from 6am to 10pm. At all other times, the soldiers who protect these outlaws are responsible for this CP as well.
The wire protecting the Palestinian house immediately opposite the disputed house is now higher – they have good reason to fear those lunatics.
It transpires that the camera positioned on top of the house was put there by the military in order to photograph the Palestinians who threw stones at the house… as if it's not just the opposite – as if it's not the settlers who sour the Palestinians' lives. I just don't understand why they are at all protected, if their stay here is illegal.
In the house itself, there are no evident preparations for a pull-out/evacuation — while we're there, four military jeeps arrive, and it turns out that the settlers have painted a Magen David on the mosque next to the disputed house which the soldiers have now come to wipe clean. That's it, nothing is done or said to the settlers, but every Palestinian who walks by is stopped and checked.
Apart from that, it seems as if Hebron has quieted down.
Road 35
More Palestinian traffic on the road.
Humanitarian CP – open; pillbox, manned.
Olive passage – open.
Halhul-Hebron Bridge: traffic flows and pillbox manned.
Tarqumiya-Idna – pillbox is manned. Traffic flows. The owner of the olive-oil press is in a bad mood – their family was not allowed to harvest the olives in the groves, where they have the right to do so, but no ownership – all because of procedural reasons. The olives will stay on, and fall off, and there will be no living out of them – this is how it is when one is not one's own master.
Tarqumiya
The scanner story – we meet with Yoram, deputy chief of the CP and with a few workers and here are the facts:
- Truck drivers do not go through the scanner
- Scanner is located where cars are checked along road 35. They checkthe drivers coming from eastern Jerusalem, bringing workers back, but only those drivers who, following the normal check, are found carrying something suspicious. The drivers couldn't care less for the workers they drive. They charge hefty sums for driving them to their work places and oppose any attempts to organize public transport to the CP.
- Dogs do not sniff inside the cars, but only from the outside.
- Due to the drivers' insistent refusal to be checked, the workers are thereby delayed and are late to work. Anyway, there seems to be one particular driver who causes most of the trouble and who, whenever he has some change in his pockets, is suspected for carrying some metal tool and is sent to the scanner.
- Because of the talk with the workers, I tend to believe Yoram and his men this time, rather than the Palestinian who woke me up at 5:45am.
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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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
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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
Smadar BeckerJan-12-2026A herd of cows in the area of Zanuta, from which its residents were expelled, accompanied by a settler on horseback
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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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