Road 60

Nearing the Meitar Crossing, on the north-eastern side we see the mighty Separation Wall that will perhaps be a border in the future. In this area the wall more or less follows the Green Line, except for obvious bypasses around the colonies of Eshkolot and Sansana (in order to include them inside Israel-proper). On the crossing’s north-eastern side there is no longer a wall, only a renewed fence. It was built here last year after the terrorist attacks that came out of the visible breaches in the previous fence.

Along the entire road all the way to Hebron, all entries to Palestinian villages and towns are blocked by dirt dykes, boulders or metal gates, except for the entrances to Karame and Dayr Razah east of the road and north of Samu’a. For example, if a villager from Simia¸ blocked on all sides, wishes to get to the nearby town of Samu’a, he must go north to Karame and from there get off the road and go south to Samu’a. This is a detour of over an hour. Along the road, one can easily detect the fresh earthen dykes (according to the color of the soil).  The army bulldozer works non-stop. At Kliklis Junction, we saw people crossing the road with supermarket carts and bags of products. At the Sheep junction we saw a lot filled with cars on the Yatta side as well as on the other side of Hebron. North of the Sheep Junction we saw the bulldozer working, supervised by an army jeep. We stopped some ways from there in order to photograph it, but the soldiers in the jeep must have noticed us and came in our direction. We took off quickly.

Generally, Palestinians and Israeli soldiers play cat and mouse: the former open the rock and dirt barriers wherever possible, and the latter renew them in Sysiphic perseverance. Blessed use of resources! Thus, M. managed to enter with his jeep yesterday and get products, with donations to Abu Safi, who has been expelled from Massafer Yatta.

Hebron – H2 area, fully controlled by the Israeli occupation

This is our first visit here since war broke out. In the first month of the war (October) the Palestinian area between the Jewish neighborhoods was under curfew. We entered from the south, through the Kiryat Arba colony industrial zone. To our surprise there were no delays. Perhaps I look like a colonist… The gate has been renewed.

Exiting Kiryat Arba to the area between the Jewish neighborhoods is amazing. The place looks fully controlled by the military. The town is closed: all shops, garages, and homes on the Zion Route are shut and there is no one around.

Going uphill to the Disputed House, we saw some women crossing quickly from one side of Palestinian Hebron to the other. There is no one in the streets nor on the rooftops or near the houses. The Cave of the Fathers area is out of bounds. We drove bypassing the girls’ and boys’ schools (which are empty, perhaps it’s vacation time in the Palestinian Authority’s school system). We stopped for a moment to understand whether Liberty House purchased recently has already been populated. A military vehicle popped up behind us right away and would not let our car stop. At the top of the hill, we turned towards the grocery shop, but were immediately stopped by soldiers who would not let us continue. Coming downhill, we were followed by a colonist car.

We wished to meet Palestinian friends, but that’s completely out of the question, especially since we cannot stop and everything is closed. They would not even answer our phone calls.

Truth is, we were afraid. There is no curfew now, but fear of the regime has been internalized.

Jalis neighborhood, opposite the Gal neighborhood

On our way to the exit from Kiryat Arba’s industrial zone, we pass through the Palestinian neighborhood of Jalis, close to which Giv’at Gal was built about twenty years ago. It was first a wild outpost, but eventually became a neighborhood of Kiryat Arba, although the area is not contiguous. The road leading to the neighborhood passes the privately owned area of the Tamimi family, and the neighborhood must have been partly built on private Palestinian land. So what? Nothing! We were here years ago, when the neighborhood had just been built. Now it contains over 50 houses and public buildings.

We came in to speak with the Tamimi family. Their house is the first in a row of houses opposite the Gal neighborhood, close to the army base on the opposite hill. We were warmly welcomed by Nura and her daughter Rihan, a special-needs teacher at a Hebron school. 70 members of this extended family live in this well-groomed house. In October, there was curfew here, too. They did not even have two hours every day, to get food, as in Hebron. They were left without water, which was stolen by the colonists of Giv’at Gal. The children were hungry. They sneaked through neighbor homes into the Palestinian neighborhood, to get things and survive.  Left only guards in charge of their home. One day they even helped the Gal colonists (only women and children) who remained with no food and water, and sent a child to ask for help…

Since then, the Palestinians are threatened regularly by the colonists of the Gal neighborhood, who now come in army garb, at times masked. They come every two hours, knock on doors, explicitly threatening with revenge for the Hamas massacre of October 7^th. Here Rihan’s voice cracked a bit. During our visit we saw a soldier walking around the house. But not too close. Perhaps he had seen our car.

In mid-November, Gal colonists came with bulldozers and covered in asphalt the track crossing the Tamimi land below the house. She called the police. They came. Did nothing. Recommended lodging a complaint… At the police station they waited for 7 hours. Finally, the police confirmed that the Tamimi owned the ground, but announced that Israeli security is above all else (what has Gaza to do with this?). Finally, the paving with asphalt was stopped.

Since them, colonists harass them on a regular basis, every day.

Garbage collection problem

Since war began, the army has transferred the garbage container right opposite the Tamimi home, from its previous site further along the way leading to Giv’at Gal. The garbage truck of the Palestinian Hebron municipality is not allowed to enter the area. God forbid Palestinian garbage could defile Jewish garbage…

The Palestinians’ cars park far away, on the side of Palestinian Hebron. Result: garbage overflows. They cannot manage to remove it manually, to the containers distant from their neighborhood. Rihan tried to burn it, but soldiers – doing the bidding of the Jewish colonists of Giv’at Gal – appeared immediately and forbade her to light a fire. Rihan asked us to try and get help from the DCO. We shall try this week.

Tending the fruit groves of the Tamimi family

Rihan explained that the entire area between their house and Road 60 is planted with olive, nut and plum trees as well as grapevines. This year, they were not allowed to harvest. Or tend to the trees. Everything was wasted.

In the front yard she built a small playground. But the colonists from Givat Gal stopped the works. We saw a see-saw in the making – all it needs now is a concrete base to connect to it. They are not allowed. As soon as the Palestinians try to add anything, a colonist in army garb appears and orders them to stop. Why? Can anyone explain this? Just a children’s playground!