Mufaqara - settlers on horses frighten herds
It was important for me to see what was happening with the Auda family whom we know from Lower Wadada located near the South Mount Hebron regional council, on road 317.
The family moves every summer to the land that belongs to them, about 1 km from the pillbox at the Shani intersection in front of Samu’.
At the beginning of winter, they will return to Lower Wadada. This year they arrived at a place called Al Atara, on July 7. There are nine children in the family, five girls and four boys. During the week, the children in Samu’ live in a house which belongs to a family with Rada, Ziad’s second wife.
We met Ziad and his wife Fatma.
Ziad says that last Friday, 1.9.23, settlers arrived, boys on ATVs, from the Mikneh Yehuda farm,
the one next to Asael, of Israel Kaplan, who does not allow the Palestinians in his vicinity any peace.
They asked Fatma where her children and the flock were. She answered them that they were in the pasture and walked away. In response, she was shouted at (sorry I have to write this) and called Sharmuta. The meaning of the word, whore. In Arabic, this is a very offensive curse.
Meanwhile, Ziad was shepherding the flock in an area that the settlers have not yet discovered.
Ziad points to several white sacks in a plot next to where we are sitting which belonged to his neighbour. But the settlers had used the ATV on the Friday and trampled them with the wheels of the ATV on their way back.
From there we continued to Mufaqara to visit Fadel who had twin granddaughters a month ago. So, we went to visit and to congratulate him. But he was not there as he had found a temporary job.
We were sitting in a cave (a pungent smell of moss) with Samer, his daughter, 19, and Halima, his wife.
Halima says that in the morning of September 3, settlers came on horseback, while she was grazing the flock with her 12-year-old son Ahmad. They galloped amongst the sheep and scared them, as well as herself and her son. According to her this is routine.
This happened again on Friday two days before our visit, this time to Fadel and the children. They were grazing the flock in their own territory, near the illegal outpost of Avigail. A settler from Avigail arrived with an ATV, drove around quickly and again, the goal was to drive them away.
The army arrived, but unsurprisingly, demanded that Fadel leave his territory, claiming that it was state territory. With no choice, he left, and was forced to move to a pasture in a distant area.
This time we were able to see the transport of the children by Nasser Adra from nearby At-Tuwani. The school where the children of the nearby villages study is in At-Tuwani.
Nasser set Fadel’s and Halila’s children down ,4 in number, and continued to Khalet A-Daba’.
The settlers do whatever comes to their mind and life is terrible for the Palestinians.
A-Tuwani
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A-Tuwani
The locals came to a-Tuwani during the 20th century from the village of Yatta. They settled in abandoned ruins, utilizing the arable land, pastures for grazing sheep and the abundance of natural caves for habitation. The residents who settled in the caves came from families who could not purchase land for houses in the mother villages, as well as shepherds who did not have enough land to graze. They were joined by clan members who quarreled with other families in the mother locality.
Some of the residents today live in concrete buildings built above the caves. In the area of the village are several water cisterns and an ancient water well called 'Ein a-Tuwani. Local residents are forced to buy water in containers and transport them through many road blocks to the village. With the help of international organizations, an electrical system was installed in the village. In the late 90s of the 20tTh century, an elementary school was established in the serving several small villages in the area.
In 2004, MachsomWatch began visiting and reporting from the Khirbet Tuwani cave village, which suffers badly from the settlers of nearby outposts, and especially from the extremist Ma'on outpost. . The settlers contaminate cisterns, poison the flocks and uproot trees.Particularly notable is the harassment of children from the surrounding villages on their way to school in a-Tuwani, so much so that military escort of children is required to separate them from the attackers (this was arranged following an initiative of the organization's members). In the past year, the escort has been without the vital presence of overseas volunteers.
Near a-Tuwani there are several families who have returned to the caves due to the incessant demolitions of the civil administration (as there is a total construction ban in all of area C). Destroyed are not only residential and agricultural buildings, but also water pipes, machinery. Even water cisterns are clogged up. a-Tuwani residents have created an association for non-violent demolition protests, but in the past year the army’s harsh harassment and settler violence have intensified and escalated. The incident of the small generator confiscation, which left a young man paralyzed, is one of many examples - any legitimate protection of property rights leads to violence and even shootings by the army and the civil administration.
Updated April 2022
Feb-3-2026Security coordinator of the Abigail settlement, the one who injured Sheikh Saad (next to him)
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Mesafer Yatta
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This is happening in Fire Area 918 in the South Hebron Hills
On the eve of Remembrance Day (the day before Israel Independence Day), 4th May, 2022, the Israeli High Court decided on the transfer and expulsion of residents from 8 Palestinian communities in the area of Masafar Yata in the South Hebron Hills. Residents of the villages have been living under the threat of demolition, evacuation and expropriation since the IDF issued evacuation orders in 1999 based on the 1980s proclamation of their area of residence as a firing zone for IDF drills. None of the nearby settlements were included in this zone. The Masafer Yata Palestinian villages retain a special lifestyle and ancient agricultural culture. They also posess a clear historical documentation that testifies to a Palestinian settlement in this area, generations before the establishment of Israel, long ago in the caves and at later times outside them.
Evacuating residents from the area means destroying these historic villages and leaving entire families (about 2,000 people, children, adults, and the elderly) homeless. This is contrary to international law.
In June 2022, a firing drill started, and life became harder.
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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
Feb-3-2026Security coordinator of the Abigail settlement, the one who injured Sheikh Saad (next to him)
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