South Hebron Hills, Simia
Sunday morning – terrible pressure and very crowded. Route 60 is also very busy, probably because of Hanukkah. A lot of Israeli cars are traveling in the direction of Be’er Sheva. Roadblocks and checks all along to Al Fawwar.
We visited mainly in the village of Simia, where a school was destroyed last Thursday (06/12/18 and see a report from that day). The school building was built a little outside the village and was supposed to serve about 25 children. It should be noted that the village is divided into two by the busy highway 60 and in the second part, across the road, there is another school. There is no crossing or traffic light between the two parts of the village, so sending children from one part to another is very dangerous.
We met the teachers of Arabic, mathematics and English and some of the village women. It was cold on the hill and we were sitting in a circle with the remains of the building and piles of building materials. Another building material was confiscated during the demolition. The English teacher, a young girl from Dura, translated and told that the next day (18.12.2018) they would start teaching there despite the demolition. A kind of canvas was created that gives some protection from the weather but the conditions are very difficult there. The teachers come from Medora and the other villages around.
During the visit, a delegation from the Palestinian Ministry of Education arrived and promised to complain to the Israelis and photographed the ruins from all sides. One of the women in the delegation thanked us for coming but asked what we could do to help. A sad situation.
Maybe Raya Yaron can persuade Gideon Levy to write about the destruction
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
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