Hebron, South Hebron Hills, Wed 23.5.12, Morning
Translator: Charles K.
Armed soldiers next to the pillbox at the junction near the Tarqumiyya grocery, watching trucks crossing to Area A. A surprise at the Shayukh-Sa’ir junction: the crossing is open! Many vehicles going through, in every direction. Boulders still block access to the west.
(Why, after many years, has it suddenly been opened?)
Farther on, a huge sign: “Judea and Samaria – Every Jew’s story.” And: “Beit Haggai – You’ll feel at home.”
At the entrance to Hebron we discover our radiator is leaking and drive immediately to the local garage. While they’re replacing hoses we stop at a grocery, and then visit Azzam (to order a table for friends…)
More signs near the Cave of the Patriarchs: “My flame will burn until the Messiah comes;” “The time of redemption has come; we’ll continue our acquisitions…”
It’s relatively quiet today. A few tour buses, the tourists in the Cave of the Patriarchs…
Camouflage netting on the roof of a building opposite the Worshippers Route, soldiers looking down.
Golden fields all along the road – people reaping with sickles, bundling and tying sheaves, just like in the days of Ruth and Boaz. (“And they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest.”)
We’re detained once again at the Tarqumiyya crossing, and when Raya demands that they stop treating us this way, the excuse is, “She’s a new inspector.”
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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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
MuhammadFeb-24-2026South Hebron Hill, Beit Hagai: Paving an internal security road
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