Hebron, South Hebron Hills, Tarqumiya, Mon 4.2.13, Morning
Translator: Charles K.
Today we came via the Tarqumiya checkpoint.
All the laborers have crossed. Many fewer vehicles of all kinds parked here than at the Meitar crossing.
We met an old acquaintance at the grocery at the entrance to Idna on Highway 35. He lost his son, who was shot by our forces a few years ago on his way to harvest olives; he’s joined the organization of bereaved families. He’s older than 70 and isn’t permitted to enter Israel. When he travels to Jordan he’s detained for three hours in each direction and doesn’t understand why. A younger relative of his who attends the meetings told us they asked members of the group for help. I gave him Sylvia’s phone number; according to her, someone his age is entitled to appeal and it’s worth doing.
Two red signs have been erected on the road at the turn to Idna, reading: This road leads to
a Palestinian locality. Entry by Israeli citizens is dangerous. That’s different from the version referring to the prohibition against entering Area A, which is illegal. Such signs have recently been erected all along Highway 60, at all the entrances to Palestinian localities. What’s the significance of the different wordings of the red signs? Who knows.
Another red sign very politely explaining the behavior of the soldiers at the checkpoint has been erected next to the regular sign at the turn to the humanitarian checkpoint on Highway 35 at one of the roads to Hebron.
Hebron
The “Shimshon” brigade is stationed there now. Israeli flags fly so very festively all along Derech HaBanim. We weren’t able to discover the reason for the party.
Border Police soldiers at the checkpoint on the road next to the Cave of the Patriarchs plaza. A boy about ten years old carrying an electric saw passes by, going toward the Fayha girls school. One of the soldiers wants to detain him. The boy keeps walking, the soldier runs to stop him. “Why?,” we ask? The soldier radios for instructions. A second soldier explains they’re only checking something. Over the radio they’re told to let the boy go, but to keep an eye on him.
Thus it ends, this time. We have the impression our presence influenced the soldiers’ behavior.
A little boy on his way to help someone at work meets, as a daily routine, soldiers who can harm him for the sake of Israel’s security. The chronicle of occupation.
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
Lea ShakdielMay-27-2025Hebron, settlers vandalized the sign of the girls' school
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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
Michal TsadikJul-25-2025The interior of the burnt house
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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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