South Hebron Hills - checkpoints checkpoints checkpoints
Tarkumia checkpoint: road 35 looks desolate and empty. Very few cars in the huge parking lot. On normal days,p we saw endless vehicles parked everywhere at the checkpoint, including on the sides of the road, because of the very heavy traffic.
We met Ali from Tarkumiya who reports to us:
A few Palestinians paid a lot of money to get a special permit and enter Israel. A Palestinian who has an appointment at one of the hospitals can enter Israel and return home the same day. Visits to prisons have not taken place since the war in Gaza. There are no prisoner visits by the families.
All entrances to Idna and Tarkumiya are closed. The northern entrance Halhul–Hebron is open.
We turned right onto road 60, the entrance to Shuweike and Hebron are closed, pedestrians pass from side to side.
Bani Naim intersection is closed. The Sheep Junction is closed. One of the Palestinians tried to cross at the Beit Hagai intersection near the Qilqis–Hebron sign.Taxis and passers-by move goods on foot.
Raniya, who lives between the Negohot settlements and is currently staying in Dura, tells us that her brother was arrested by the army although a search of their house turned up nothing and caused them a lot of damage.
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
Yael ZoranMay-22-2025The bumpy road to Ata's house
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Tarqumiya CP
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The Tarqumiya Checkpoint is one of the largest and busiest checkpoints where people and goods cross into Israel. It is located on the Separation Barrier close to the Green Line, on Road 35 (connecting Beer Sheva and Hebron). It is run by the Israel Defense Ministry’s Crossings Administration with civilian secuirty companies running the day to day operations. The checkpoint is indeed open to vehicles in both directions 24/7, but Palestinians are prevented from crossing in vehicles, except in special cases. MachsomWatch activists visit the checkpoint as it opens at 3:45 am, in order to observe the daily passage of nearly 10,000 Palestinian workers. The workers arrive from throughout the Southern West Bank. Our activists report on the tremendous overcrowding at this checkpoint; they have observed young men climbing and scrambling on the fences and roofs of the ‘access cages’. This is how the work day begins for those who ‘build the land of Israel’. updated November 2019
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