Rahwa - settlers limit the grazing area
We drove again with the 4×4 as a normal car is unable to reach people to whom all the normative roads are blocked. We went to a small village called Rahwa.
Thanks to your donations we bought them basic food products. And we drove in the wadi behind the Tene Omarim settlement. There are several families in the wadi. This time we visited the Abu Sharekh family. They are surrounded by settlements that are approximately 10 years old. The Avraham farm is on one hill and there is a settler named Shabtai. Further down the ridge is the Mor farm, where the settlers Aviad and Shlomo, probably a father and son, live. The Palestinian family says that they, the family, have lived here for over 70 years and until 7/10 they their lives were relatively normal. Now they are not allowed to graze on their land that connects the road between Meitar and Tene Omarim, which continues to Tene Omarim. The son says that yesterday his car was confiscated, but they cannot buy a proper car. Many people do travel in cars which are not roadworthy but do not have an option. In August they have a court case at “Ofer”.
We are sitting in a room that is part of a building that received a demolition order a month ago. Although the demolition date has passed, the building still stands. In general, it is hard to see the conditions they live in, both near the hideously filthy Beer Sheva stream and near the settlers on the hills.
“Pastorally” or so it would seem. A., the father of the family, says that the settlers come in uniform. He recognizes some of them, some are masked and chase the Palestinians away until they are at least 200 meters away from the road. They come in a van, 3-4 people and drive them away.
He also has a plot of wheat close to the road but due to the lack of rain the wheat is not high enough and it is not worth it for him to even harvest it. He says that yesterday the settlers tore the pipe he had installed to drain water from his cistern. This vandalism also repeats itself and he goes back and fixes it so that the water he draws from the well on the hill reaches him. Ibtisam (the name means smile) says that they were born here and first lived in the caves next to them, many years before Tene Omarim was established in 1983.
M. tells us that it is good that we come, because when the settlers see that people come to them to visit and support them, the settlers realize that the Palestinians do not stand alone and then bother them less. When we left, she asks that we visit them again.
In the pictures you can see how they live, the settlements on the hills and the polluted Nahal Beer Sheva that they live next to.
Meitar checkpoint / Sansana
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Meitar Checkpoint / Sansana The checkpoint is located on the Green Line and serves as a border crossing between Israel and the West Bank. It is managed by the Border Crossing Authority of the Defense Ministry. It is comprised of sections for the transfer of goods as well as a vehicle checkpoint (intended for holders of blue identity cards, foreign nationals or diplomats and international organizations). Passing of Palestinians is prohibited, except for those with entry permits to Israel. Palestinians are permitted to cross on foot only. The crossing has a DCO / DCL / DCL / DCL (District Coordination Office), a customs unit, supervision, and a police unit. In the last year, a breach has been opened in the fence, not far from the crossing. This breach is known to all, including the army. There does not appear to be any interest in blocking it, probably as it permits needed Palestinian workers without the bureaucratic permits to get to work in Israel. Food stalls and a parking area economy have been created, but incidents of violent abuse by border police have also been recorded. Updated April 2022
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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
Muhammad D.May-13-2025Susiya - at Ahmad and Halima Nawaja'a
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