Hebron, Susiya, Sun 27.10.13, Morning
Translator: Charles K.
We left Omer at 09:00.
Shoket junction is full of police vehicles.
Since it was late there was no reason to hurry to the checkpoint or to Hebron; we drove instead to observe the olive harvest. We began at Susiya. We ran into Nasser, who was on his way to Ramallah to meet the Irish consul. The outline plan for the Palestinian village of Susia was rejected by the higher level planning committee; their lawyers think the way to reverse that decision is through international pressure.
Regarding the olive harvest – 95% of the crop has been picked. The remaining groves are relatively far from the settlements and the settlers don’t reach them.
Well-plowed fields along the road to Hebron await the rain.
Hebron
10:25 Gal farm was established next to Tamimi’s house. He told us that Palestinian youths may have thrown rocks, in response to which IDF soldiers fired tear gas grenades at the Tarak school. The boys were sent home.
Tents still stand near the Cave of the Patriarchs; they’d been erected for those who came on Friday and Saturday for the weekly portion of Chayey Sarah. Signs still point to the separate areas for men and for women. Abed’s souvenir shop has customers.
10:34 Giv’ati soldiers stop us on the road to the Cave of the Patriarchs. They arrived a week ago. Eight soldiers and their first sergeant encircle us; he’s checking whether we’re allowed to be here with a vehicle.
We continued our usual circuit. The place is a ghost town at this hour. It’s sad to see the old people and women walking up the steep road carrying heavy bundles.
Then home via Dahariyya, a town whose main street is lively and bustling with commerce.
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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Susiya
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Susiya The Palestinian area lies between the settlement of Susya and a military base. The residents began to settle in areas outside the villages in the 1830s and lived in caves, tents and sukkot. To this day they maintain a traditional lifestyle and their livelihood is based on agriculture and herding. Until the 1948 war, the farmers cultivated areas that extended to the Arad area. As a result of the war, a significant portion of their land left on the Israeli side was lost. After the 1967 war and the Israeli occupation, military camps were established in the area, fire zones and nature reserves were declared, and the land area was further reduced. The Jewish settlement in Susya began in 1979. Since then, there has been a stubborn struggle to remove the remains of Palestinian residents who refuse to leave their place of birth and move to nearby town Yatta. With the development of a tourist site in Khirbet Susya in the late 1980s (an ancient synagogue), dozens of families living in caves in its vicinity were deported. In the second half of the 1990s, a new form of settlement developed in the area - shepherds' farms of individual settlers. This phenomenon increased the tension between the settlers and the original, Palestinian residents, and led to repeated harassment of the residents of the farms towards the Palestinians. At the same time, demolition of buildings and crop destruction by security forces continued, as well as water and electricity prevention. In the Palestinian Susya, as in a large part of the villages of the southern Hebron Mountains, there is no running water, but the water pipe that supplies water to the Susya Jewish settlement passes through it. Palestinians have to buy expensive water that comes in tankers. Solar electricity is provided by a collector system, installed with donation funds. But the frequent demolitions in the villages do not spare water cisterns or the solar panels and power poles designed to transfer solar electricity between the villages. Updated April 2021, Anat T.
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