Sha'ab al-Butum: Police disregarding Palestinian reports of settler violence
We drove to J. family at Shaab al-Butum. Like all residents, they too suffer daily harassment from the settlers of Mitzpe Avigail and from settler Amichai Shilo who settled near them two years ago, and whose activity we have reported often, including photos. The way there is now more winding because of extra barriers lately put up by the settlers, which we reported last week too.
We were glad to see German and Italian volunteers there who spend the night and make them feel a bit safer.
M. said that this morning at 8 a.m., Amichai Shilo and another settler came with their flock almost to the house itself. They tried to make us fight them while their sheep actually mounted the entrance.
The volunteers photographed and blocked their way. “I called the police”, M. says. “The policemen answered: Don’t get near the settler, ignore them. We did that and he simply sat there with his sheep, about 70 of them and the donkey, for about an hour, then left.”
“This happens every single day”, he says. “Last week, after lodging many complaints, I was summoned to come to the Kiryat Arba police station to lodge my complaint. I came and they told Attorney Qamar Masharqi on the phone that they need a translator. I waited for 6 hours and no translator in sight. I was told to come again on Sunday. I told the policeman I have been waiting such a long time. He said: Don’t come in, go home.”
“That’s how it is the whole time. Our complaints are ignored. Only the ones we manage to lodge through the police website with the help of volunteers get any attention. The people who complain are told to come and go even though they had a fixed date and time. When the policeman called to summon me again, I said I don’t want to come because I just wait for hours. He then said: I’ll let you in during the weekend, later (I already lodged 9 complaints).
When I was finally let in, they just asked who photographed, what are internationals doing there. That’s what interests them. The policeman added that the settler is allowed within 1 meter of our house. Show us documents and a map proving the land is yours.
I have court documents of 2023 saying the settlers are not allowed near our house. The settlers disregard these rulings.
At the end, the policeman made do with these documents and still told us to ignore the settlers who are allowed to get close.”
“I went home”, says M. and raises his hands in desperation.
Last Saturday, two settlers arrived again with dogs, which terrified the children. One of the dogs was very aggressive and actually entered the house. We called the police again; they promised to come but never showed up.”
“After a quiet week,” M. says, “the settlers arrived this morning and tried to cause trouble. And we are restraining ourselves.”
“A fragment of an interceptor missile fell near us,” he says. “Luckily, we have a large cave where we hide when necessary—it’s better than your protected spaces (mamads)…” and he takes me to see it.
I didn’t go inside to see it. I was glad we brought them food supplies as well as clothes, shoes, toys, etc., which we had collected from donations by good people.
Location Description
Sha'ab al-Butum
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This is one of the small Palestinian communities in Masafer Yatta in the southern Hebron Hills, near the settlement of Mitzpe Avigail.
Since the outbreak of the October 7, 2023 war, settler violence against residents has escalated greatly, as in the entire Palestinian community. This violent conduct receives full backing from the state and full cooperation from the IDF. The goal is to make the lives of the Palestinian residents miserable and make them abandon and leave.
The population consists of mostly shepherds who peacefully seek to cultivate the land and graze their sheep, whom the settlers treat as a dangerous enemy. They prohibit them from any movement related to herding sheep and cultivating the land and harm everything: trampling crops, breaking olive trees, smuggling herds, scaring shepherds, conducting wild searches of houses, shouting, cursing and threatening - at all hours of the day. "We are Besieged, but will not move from our land," says Lila G. New settlements are springing up around them. At first it's a bus or a truck that turns into residential buildings, on top of which every week more residential buildings and animal sheds are added. With the open encouragement of the current government, Jewish terrorism is raising its head, with authority and permission. The settlers have received army uniforms and weapons, and no one is stopping them. The police, who are supposed to protect the Palestinians from the settlers' riots, sometimes respond to calls for help, but in practice they don't do much more than provide them with a report, and they are required to go and file a complaint in Kiryat Arba Settlemnt police station . Though the settlers' identities are known, they are !never arrested.
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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.Apr-21-2026Daphna with Azzam in Susiya
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