South Hebron Hills
09:00-13:00
Musical activity in the Hashem el Daraj kindergarten, with Huda: Expressing feelings with music
We began at the Umm el-Kheir kindergarten, since we hope to expand our activities to additional kindergartens in the area. There are now three kindergarten teachers, two of whom we already know (Dalal, Huda’s sister, and another whose name I forgot), and a new one. An additional teacher, Na’ama, whom we don’t know, isn’t there. This year the kindergarten has 40 children. In previous years there were few children, but since transportation has been available many have registered. We explained the activity to Dalal, left some materials (crayons, coloring books), exchanged phone numbers and arranged for the next activity in Umm el-Hir to be in two or three weeks.
Hashem el- Daraj: 25 children are present. When we arrive, Huda is reading from a book with pictures of animals, and the children participate. We brought various percussion instruments – bells, maraca, slit box, tambour, triangles, etc. We handed out the instruments and rotated them among the children so all could try them.
We sang a song about the wind and asked them to play various “melodies,” according to how strongly the wind blew. The song opened with a breeze playing over the waves of the sea, becomin stormy and then subsiding. Pairs of children played instruments to accompany the music, loudly and softly, according to the song. And, in particular, we achieved (without shouting) complete silence, so it was possible to hear the soft sounds! The hardest task was to keep Amana (Huda’s assistant) from yelling at the children to…be quiet.
We played the game of the wind and the sheet, accompanied by the song: the children hold the sheet and shake it strongly or weakly, according to the words of the song. Later we place a ball on the sheet, and their task is to keep it from rolling off; and then a little boy instead of the ball. This game always elicits much laughter and enthusiasm.
At the conclusion the children sat again and Huda summed up the activity.
Unfortunately, we don’t have any photographs.
“Staff” meeting:
We talked over tea and cookies and discussed future activities. We brought instructions and materials for follow-up activities – making hats from newspaper. We’ll see whether they’ll do it on their own. We taught Huala (the new young assistant) how to make them. We agreed on the next activity – making a caterpillar out of styrofoam balls. Huda will continue with the follow-up activity – making butterflies. We left feeling that our working together contributes to improving the content and the atmosphere of the kindergarten’s activities.
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 BeckerApr-10-2026New Israeli flags placed for miles on Highway 317 to prove who is sovereign
-