South Hebron Hills - roads to the cities and villages are blocked
Meitar Checkpoint –There are trucks crossing into Israel but the parking lot is empty. There are no workers entering Israel since October 2023!
At the entrance from the Palestinian side, there are new concrete blocks, defending the army.
Along Route 317 east of the entrance to As Samu we saw several fields that had been cultivated despite the barricades. Most looked like they had been abandoned.
Opposite Susya we saw sheep and cows grazing with a shepherd who was a settler!
Opposite At Tuwani the crossings to Yata were closed by earth embankments. People need to take alternate routes that require a much longer time.
Zif Junction was also completely closed by a checkpoint with no soldiers, and people have to walk around.
We did some shopping at Nabil’s store at the Zif Junction and paid with money that had been donated for one of the needy families from the area of Yata. We distributed the food and clothing at one of the junctions.
We returned to Route 60. The entrances to Hebron at the Sheep Junction were closed. The entrance to Rahiya was also closed, but attractive new traffic circles had been built.
Qilqis – Hebron was also closed. Taxis were picking people up and dropping them off where they had to continue walking to get where they had to.
The same thing was evident at Dura-Al-Fawwar Junction. All exits and entrances were closed.
The entrance to As Samu from Route 60 was also closed, and there were no soldiers present, so it is impossible to open the gate if necessary.
All along the way, all the dirt roads to the cities are blocked to cars.
The insufferable burden on daily life is evident everywhere along the roads, in agriculture, in the absence of herds in the fields, and of course also in the sweeping ban on working in Israel.
Dura Al-Fawwar Junction
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Junction on Route 60: west - the town of El Dura, east - the Al Fawwar refugee camp. There is a manned pillbox at the junction. From time to time the army sets up flying checkpoints at the entrance to El Fawwar and Al Dura. Al-Fawwar is a large refugee camp (7,000 inhabitants in 2007) established in 1949 to accommodate Palestinian refugees from Be'er Sheva and Beit Jubrin and environs. There are many incidents of stone-throwing. In the vicinity of the pillbox there are excellent agricultural areas, Farmers set up stalls adjacent to the plots close to the road. In recent months the civil administration has set up dirt embankments thereby blocking access to the stalls, and making it impossible for the farmers to sell their vegetables. Updated April 2021, Michal T.
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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.May-13-2025Susiya - at Ahmad and Halima Nawaja'a
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