Maktal Mesalem - settlers throw sheep carcasses in ther area
On Thursday, Abu Safi called Muhammad and told him that Israel Kaplan, a settler from Mikne Yehuda farn – adjacent to the illegal settlement, Asa’el, has been intruding more and more into the lands of Abu Safi’s house, several times in fact.
Amer, Abu Safi’s neighbour in Wadi Radim, also describes what happened to him.
Yinon, the settler from Meitarim , came to his well and tried to drive out Amer and his herd. Without a water well, the herd cannot survive and will die of thirst.
Amar stood his ground and warned that he would call the police. Yinon left. We will follow what happens.
We went to see for ourselves the incessant invasions, and indeed, while still on our way, on the dirt road visitors from road 317 to Abu Safi, the ATV with two young men in it, (they looked like boys to us), drove quickly and passed us. We managed to take pictures.
We picked up Abu Safi and went to check if the purpose of the trip was to throw another sheep carcass under the bridge, possibly a gruesome one as we reported 10 days ago. Amer, the shepherd from nearby Maktal Mesalem, was there with the flock. He was there when the two settlers arrived with the ATV and climbed a nearby hill. He speculates that a sheep carcass was thrown there.
We went up the hill with the jeep. We walked on foot in the area to the carcass site, but what we discovered was an additional area to the one next to the bridge, where many bones are lying. It is hard to see.
In the afternoon, Amer from the Maktal Mesalem sent a photo of a dead carcass which had been thrown down about half an hour earlier on the hill, by Kaplan.
Two parts of the territory on which Abu Safi has lived for generations is claimed by two settlers, Yinon from Meitarim and Kaplan from Mikne Yehuda. Their goal is to expel the Palestinians.
Abu Safi asked if we could help him to visit his daughters in the village of Ramadin in a place near the Meitar crossing. His daughter Rania gave birth two months ago and this was also an opportunity to bless her and her family.
Abu Safi had some satisfaction from visiting his daughter, and then he returned to his home and to the increasing difficulty in his life.
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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