Hebron, South Hebron Hills, Tarqumiya, Wed 24.9.08, Morning
Tarqumiya Crossing is quiet.
Road 35
The CP at the western entrance to Hebron, past the bridge, is open and no soldiers are present.
To the south of the Humanitarian CP there's a closed yellow gate. The road is open.
Shuyuch Hebron is blocked as always. The Girls' School seems quiet.
Hebron
On the road to the Patriarchs' Tombs Cave many schoolchildren walk to school. There are no blocks.
At the Pharmacy CP children walk through the caravan for inspection.
On the Shuhada Road there are quite a few soldiers and children on the way to school.
At Tel Rumeida small children are being checked one at a time, opening schoolbags they carry on their chests or tummies rather than on their backs. It is evident that they are used to the procedure and accept it (meekly?). Virtually no one goes through without inspection.
Two Swedish Church representatives tell us that only two of the five soldiers permanently positioned at the junction were doing their job of checking passers by and it took their intervention to put two more into action. Then the queue started moving at a better pace, but why aren't these standing orders?
We had an unpleasant exchange with the soldiers who were amusing themselves by telling jokes about the passers by and one of them was haranguing against Arabs in general.
The five soldiers stationed at Tarpat CP look almost bored.
The path leading to the glass factory is blocked. That's new!
On our way back. we see three detainees and a military jeep by Tarqumiya and stop to find out what's happening. One of the three has no ID card. They came by way of the mountains. They are checked and released.
The soldiers explain that there is a warning of infiltration through the fence so they're checking everyone. All but one of the soldiers are on reserve service, so they know what's what and are performing well. The exception is a scout in the regular army (those who sign on after their compulsory three years).
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
Leah ShakdielApr-8-2025Hebron: A sign advertising a tempting real estate
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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
A Palestinian residentMay-12-2025A sheep carcass dumped by settler Shimon Atiya from the Shorashim farm near the school in Umm Qusa.
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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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