Sha’ab al Butum – cleaning a well into which the settlers poured machine oil
We dedicated the vigil to the Jabarin family in Sha’ab al-Butum, who live in constant fear of the Mitzpe Avigail settlers. They are busy trying to restore the ruins of their “home” and their plots. And they still don’t sleep there at night for fear of the settlers. Thanks to your donations, we bought food and went there. Leila always insists on serving us some of her dishes (delicious, it should be noted). Even those in poverty have something to give and we are happy to receive from her as well. The pictures are of the Kusa Mah’shi (stuffed zucchini) meal.
In the video, Muhammad Jabarin shows us the polluted well into which the settlers poured machine oil and now he cleans it and hopes for the rains to come and fill it again with water so that they can drink and water the sheep. It is hard to bear, in how much evil and violence of the authorities and settlers these people are “wrapped”.
We also visited Ishak Jabarin, a family member who lives in the same place not far away. There are hard stories about the chronicle of this evil. He says that two weeks ago, settlers came and demanded to enter his house. He bravely prevented them with his body and shouted to them that if they didn’t go, he would call the police and then they left. His wife says that every time they bravely stand up to them, are not afraid and threaten to call the police, they walk away.
There seems to be some semblance of law enforcement in this wild south.
During the visit to him, two phone calls reach Muhammad, one from Fares, from the deportees of Zanuta, who now lives in Shweike, as mentioned. He says that he was in his pasture with his son in the areas at the foot of Havat Yehuda. Then 4 settlers came down from the settlement and beat them to a bloody pulp.
A second phone call is received by Muhammad from Rania from the Jadallah family who lives in Fuqeiqis, between the two settlements Negohot A and B.
They have a legal car now and were trying to go shopping in nearby Beit Awwa. There, too, was a roadblock and the soldiers shouted at them, preventing them from going to buy shoes, clothes, food, and school supplies for the children. She had to take the children and leave them in Dura in the apartment she rented there because of the difficulties of traveling home, to and from work. She says that these are her little nephews in grades 1 and 2, and she leaves them with her because of the situation.
We will visit there next week if they let us pass at the checkpoints.
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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