South Hebron Hills
9:00 – 12:30
Goal: Activity in the Huda kindergarten in Hashem-el-Darage
Activity Olive tree picking
20 children were present at the preschool, most of them new. 2 preschool teachers (Huda and Chaula), and Amna, an assistant were also present. The staff and the children received us warmly and enthusiastically. We were pleased with the reception. It seems that there is value to creating personal connections – after all, we have been coming to this preschool for 5 years.
When we arrived, the children were sitting and listening to Huda tell a story on the topic of growing olive trees, occasionally showing them the pictures in the book. The children sat on the carpet and participated in the story telling.
The art activity included pasting paper and fabric cutouts of olive leaves and olives, also real olive leaves, soil, and coloring and pasting brown crepe paper on the outline of a tree drawn on A4 paper. Huda agreed to having soil brought in from the garden so it could be pasted on the picture even though it spilt on the tables and floor. The children were enthusiastic about the activity; it seems that some of them never used glue or scissors. There is a need to invest in staff education so that they teach the children to work independently on the activity rather than doing it for them. With that being said, we feel that there has been a real change in approach. Huda herself requested that we leave materials so they could continue the work with the children.
At the end, the children wanted to take the work with them. And we sat contentedly for a short while enjoying tea and cookies with Huda, Chaula, and Amna. It turns out that there is a significant delay in paying salaries to the staff – the salary comes from contributions. We hope that the preschool will be able to continue functioning. We try to help them with by supplying work materials.
Pictures of the activity – The 13.10.2016 album:
https://photos.google.com/u/1/albums
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
Smadar BeckerDec-14-2025A World Food Program (WFP) sticker at the entrance to a grocery store in Tuwani
-