South Hebron
South Hebron Hills and Hebron Wednesday 24.5.06 AM Observers : Leah S, Elena L (reporting)6:45:-10:00 Shim’a CP: no Palestinians there.Turn-off to Daharia: blocked as usualDura –Al Fawwar crossing: open to vehicles and pedestrians in both directions. No soldiers on the ground.Sheep’s Crossing: Open to pedestrians as usual. No soldiers on the ground. HebronPharmacy CP- a few children and youths passed through without any problems.Kasba CP: Closed. No Palestinians to be seen.The path leading to Cordoba school: Workers were repaving the path with the Eckerstein bricks which the settlers had torn up – but this time they were using cement!A large and shocking graffito: (photographed by Leah) On the hill immediately above the path leading to the school is an empty house covered with army netting. On its back wall there is a sickening graffito in Hebrew: ‘Vengeance on untermenschen”. In order to see this (it is not new and has not been painted over) you have to climb further up the stairs and then walk along the path running parallel to the one leading to the school. If this house is being used by the army, the soldiers obviously see this graffito and the “message” is able to influence their thinking. Tarpat (1929) Square CP: At 8:30 3 male detainees were observed but they received their IDs back and were allowed to pass through almost immediately after we arrived. The few men and boys who passed later had their IDS checked very quickly. Women went through without being checked at all. In any case the pedestrian traffic was very sparse.The CP at the entrance to the square of the Patriarch Abraham The soldiers manning the CP refused to allow a Palestinian man to go to the couple of Palestinian shops that are open on the other side of the road leading out of the square i.e. he wasn’t allowed to cross the road. The soldier in charge said that no Palestinians are allowed to be in the area of the road and the square near the CP. The only exceptions are the few Palestinians who live in the buildings where the shops are located.In general, very few Palestinians were observed during the shift and there was nothing to alter the usual depressing impression of a ghost town.
Hebron
See all reports for this place-
According to Wye Plantation Accords (1997), Hebron is divided in two: H1 is under Palestinian Authority control, H2 is under Israeli control. In Hebron there are 170,000 Palestinian citizens, 60,000 of them in H2. Between the two areas are permanent checkpoints, manned at all hours, preventing Palestinian movement between them and controlling passage of permit holders such as teachers and schoolchildren. Some 800 Jews live in Avraham Avinu Quarter and Tel Rumeida, on Givat HaAvot and in the wholesale market.
Checkpoints observed in H2:
- Bet Hameriva CP- manned with a pillbox
- Kapisha quarter CP (the northern side of Zion axis) - manned with a pillbox
- The 160 turn CP (the southern side of Zion axis) - manned with a pillbox
- Avraham Avinu quarter - watch station
- The pharmacy CP - checking inside a caravan with a magnometer
- Tarpat (1929) CP - checking inside a caravan with a magnometer
- Tel Rumeida CP - guarding station
- Beit Hadassah CP - guarding station
Three checkpoints around the Tomb of the Patriarchs
Raya YeorDec-18-2025Hebron - Yusri Jaber and part of his family
-
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
MuhammadFeb-24-2026South Hebron Hill, Beit Hagai: Paving an internal security road
-