Sha’b al Butum - the Civil Administration confiscated tractors in spite of previous agreements
At the Meitar border crossing, the parking lots are full.
Update from Abu Safi: the settlers are becoming more daring, approaching the house, and cursing his wife.
It should be noted that today, Abu Safi, a sick man, can no longer protect his family. Only women remained at home (the son works outside the home) and the situation could be dangerous for them.
From time to time there are volunteers who come and even sleep there with him. But it is not enough.
At-Tuwani: At the posts at the entrance to the village, soldiers stand on each side, with weapons aimed at those entering the village!
We spoke to Nasser, who said that the army had closed all the dirt roads with cement barriers.
They dug a huge pit at the entrances, from the Meitar crossing to the Zif Junction, thus eliminating roads which enabled Palestinians to reach their fields and the large cities in the area with greater ease.
Only two free entrances remained: the road in front of At-Tuwani, and from the direction of Umm al-Kheir.
The soldiers stationed at the At-Tuwani entrance, stop vehicles, in the morning and in the evening, on their way to work and back. The people have to get out and be checked.
About a week ago, the army closed off entire areas, near the village of Hashem al-Darraj, on the grounds that it was a fire area due to a large military exercise. In preparation they stick small warning notes in all sorts of places.
Sha’b al Butum (between the outposts Avigail and Mitzpe Yair): There had been an agreement and coordination with the Civil Administration, that the Palestinians would come with a tractor to plough. It took a few months and a truck brought the tractor to the field. When they started to cultivate the area, settlers arrived from Mitzpe Yair, pressured the administration, brought a map and claimed that the area was a closed area. The result: the Civil Administration confiscated the tractor.
The same thing happened in Susiya, and a tractor was also confiscated.
The army also confiscates vehicles that enter fire areas. The Palestinians enter because these are their living spaces. They have no choice. There are no left areas to cultivate, or pastures, and they are afraid that their camels and sheep will be confiscated as well. Car release costs NIS 3,000, and a commitment that they will not enter the closed area.
This is a dead-end situation. They are in constant fear of confiscations. A bright spot: the Italian volunteers have returned to the village. We will visit them next time.
And finally, in the coming days, the territories will be closed, no one goes out and no one comes in, due to the Jewish holidays
A bright spot: the Italian volunteers have returned to the village. We will visit them next time.
And finally, in the coming days, the territories will be closed, no one goes out and no one comes in, due to the Jewish holidays!
Photos:
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
Muhammad D.Jul-13-2026Michal with O.
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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.Jul-13-2026Michal with O.
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Susiya
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Susiya The Palestinian area lies between the settlement of Susya and a military base. The residents began to settle in areas outside the villages in the 1830s and lived in caves, tents and sukkot. To this day they maintain a traditional lifestyle and their livelihood is based on agriculture and herding. Until the 1948 war, the farmers cultivated areas that extended to the Arad area. As a result of the war, a significant portion of their land left on the Israeli side was lost. After the 1967 war and the Israeli occupation, military camps were established in the area, fire zones and nature reserves were declared, and the land area was further reduced. The Jewish settlement in Susya began in 1979. Since then, there has been a stubborn struggle to remove the remains of Palestinian residents who refuse to leave their place of birth and move to nearby town Yatta. With the development of a tourist site in Khirbet Susya in the late 1980s (an ancient synagogue), dozens of families living in caves in its vicinity were deported. In the second half of the 1990s, a new form of settlement developed in the area - shepherds' farms of individual settlers. This phenomenon increased the tension between the settlers and the original, Palestinian residents, and led to repeated harassment of the residents of the farms towards the Palestinians. At the same time, demolition of buildings and crop destruction by security forces continued, as well as water and electricity prevention. In the Palestinian Susya, as in a large part of the villages of the southern Hebron Mountains, there is no running water, but the water pipe that supplies water to the Susya Jewish settlement passes through it. Palestinians have to buy expensive water that comes in tankers. Solar electricity is provided by a collector system, installed with donation funds. But the frequent demolitions in the villages do not spare water cisterns or the solar panels and power poles designed to transfer solar electricity between the villages. Updated April 2021, Anat T.
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Zif Junction
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Zif Junction located on the crossroads that directs towards Road 356 to Yata. Yata is the district city of the southern Hebron Mountains. Usually, this junction is open to traffic. The nearby pillbox is unmanned. But the army and police are present occasionally, sometimes setting up a checkpoint and sometimes detaining residents from the big city. Often, the Israeli policemen inspect vehicles and distribute driving reports to Palestinian vehicles. s
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