Return visit to the village of Sika
Fewer workers at the Meitar crossing, because they lack a Covid pass. They’d begun receiving the third vaccination only at the start of this week. In the Palestinian Authority, vaccinations are administered in clinics.
We drove to visit the family in the village of Sika whose home had been demolished last week (cf. https://machsomwatch.org/he/reports/checkpoints/18102021/morning/71130). I felt obligated to speak to the women who were there, after the anger that had been directed also at me last week. This time we were welcomed and offered tea. They know we aren’t able to help. Perhaps the human connection will ease the pain somewhat. We were there for two hours; they allowed me to hold and hug the babies.
Schools in the Palestinian Authority are on vacation for ten days so the children can help with the olive harvest. We were told this year the crop was very poor. They also complained that they’d received permission for only one day to harvest their groves located beyond the separation wall.
They’d received the demolition order for their home in August, and submitted an appeal. Their home was demolished even prior to the judgment. The reason they were given: proximity to the fence.
We continued to Negohot.
The sheep ranch is expanding; there’s already a yellow gate at the entrance.
The sheep ranch is robbing more and more land and pasture from the Palestinians, and no one says a word. The settlers are much more efficient – daily harassment of the Palestinians, which takes only a few people to carry out.
The despair over the settlers’ success is only increasing.
South Hebron Hills
See all reports for this place-
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.Jan-6-2026Sha,ab al-Butum - Sabha after the attack
-