Khirbet Tiran - violent riot by settlers from the Yinon Levy farm
South Mount Hebron, Khirbet Tiran
Khirbat Tiran stands on the hills to the west of the Shima Junction, and access to it is difficult. From Highway 60, in front of the destroyed village of Zanuta, turn left onto a dirt road. We chose to visit Khirbat Tiran after reports from activists who are often there and documentation of settlers from the Yinon Levy farm who arrived on Purim, rioted as usual, terrible violence.
The journey is slow, full of obstacles and stone blocks that forced us to stop several times and move them so that we could make our way through.
Two brothers, Tawfiq Za’rir and his brother, Rafiq Za’rir, have lived there for decades. Taufiq has 12 children, 2 married daughters. Rafiq has 12 children, 4 married daughters. The married girls do not live with the parents’ family.
We are greeted happily by the children who remembered us from a previous visit. We enter the Shig, the place where visitors are received and ask to hear Tawfiq. He tells about the event during Purim that was recorded on video by activists who were there.
Tiran is a very short distance from the Yehuda farm of the settler Eliashiv Nahum and the Meitar farm of Yinon Levi. The are known for their cruelty. The activists try to sleep there several days a week, but it is not always possible.
The children are at home and not at school, because as we have already documented, most village children study twice a week and the rest of the days sometimes on Zoom, which can not really be called regular studies.
The pasture is right next to the residential area because of the threat of the settlers who do not allow the Za’rir brothers to move away further. The water is purchased every few days in Dahariya.
In the winter Tawfiq sows the agricultural lands he owns between Samu’ and Shweike and in the summer he goes with the herd to graze there.
He asks if we can help stay in Tiran when he won’t be there. Unfortunately, sleeping there will not be possible. Hope the wonderful activists will help them.
We left clothes and a food package that as aways makes them happy.
This is the occupation.
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 residentJul-21-2026Sha'ab al-Butum – Settlers pass through the village with an ATV and herds.
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