House demolition at Sika village, sorrow and shame
The Separation Wall along road 358 (south-west Hebron Hills) is erected on the Green Line set up by the 1949 armistice agreement. Along the wall, from south to north, the old Palestinian villages of Al Bourj, Sika and Beit Iba are located. Entry into these villages is permitted through the Negohot checkpoint. This area, according to the Oslo accords, is inside Area B (joint control by Israel and the PA), and the villages themselves are Area A (full Palestinian control).
We drove to our vigil through the Negohot checkpoint today. We were preceded by a convoy including a D9 bulldozer, a vehicle of the Civil Administration, 2 large vans of the Border Police, and another 2 military vehicles. We followed them because we know such sights from the Negev in Israel-proper. This is what house demolition looks like. We arrived at the demolition site by the road that stretched out behind the red sign warning Israelis of entering Area A. The demolition forces came from behind, avoiding driving through the village, probably not wishing to create more havoc than was already there.
The only sin of the house owner and his family was having built a house close to the Separation Fence. The Israeli army was issued special permission from the Israeli court to demolish new structures inside the area of the Palestinian Authority (Area A) if built close to the fence (I believe the distance in question is half-a-kilometer). Therefore, demolitions are taking place inside Area A which is supposedly under exclusive Palestinian control. The Palestinian family was surprised. They were not issued any demolition orders. The house itself borders on one of the village schools.
When the army forces, bulldozer and vehicles arrived, the villagers went to help the family and confronted the Border Police which distanced them from the site. All that time, schoolchildren looked at the goings-on from the school yard. This is how hatred is bred.
People looked at me with unfathomable hatred. Being a leftist woman does not exempt me from my responsibility for the occupation. Still, we were there to document. We have about 100 photos and some videos. We got away feeling heavy, after the Border Police began hurling stun grenades, and before using teargas.
This story does not interest the journalists to whom I reported. As Ohad Hamo says: the routine of occupation. And I have no idea where to hide my sorrow and shame.
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
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