South Hebron Hills, Susiya
We passed by Abu Naim’s vineyard which was cut down and is now empty and only the remains of dry vines remain on the ground.
We drove toward Pnei Hever following information about a new outpost. We saw only a new watchtower on a high hill.
The settlement Carmel has a massive new wall of stones, which protects and surrounds the expansion, which has grownmore and more.
On our way to visit Susya we stopped right in front of the road which enters the village, because we saw something happening across the road. We went down to them; it turns out that a family is living there in a shed which they ad built a few months ago. Yesterday the army passed by and said something about demolition, and this morning, without warning, soldiers came and destroyed the shed without a word or even submitting a form as usual. The form was given upon the completion of the demolition. The materials of the shed were confiscated and the form states that they are in a goods warehouse in Gush Etzion. The scene is tragic, everything is thrown on the ground – mattresses, their goods, dishes, vegetables.
When we got there, journalists from the Palestinian authority were still photographing. Later Israeli journalists also came and photographed.
But the honoring of guests goes on in spite of the happenings. Tea is made on a fire of twigs which are being gathered.
What will you do? We ask.
We’ll build a shed again and we will not move. Everything from heaven. (But the woman says it’s a day of despair).
The children are very sweet, turn to us and talk with a few words and hand signals. There are 10 children in the family, a baby about a year and a half old, and his father asks: What did this boy ever do to anyone?
He earns his living as an electrician and farmer, growing here on his own land which is his from previous generations, olives, vegetables etc.
The sun blazes down and there is no shade. In the meantime there is an umbrella such as we have on the beach. He does not intend to go and try to reclaim what was confiscated. It will only make his life more difficult. He used to work in Israel but now is prevented from doing so as a security risk.
The sun made it very difficult take pictures but we tried all the same.
We also heard that at Umm Fakara houses next to the mosque were destroyed. It is important to go there in the next few days.
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.Jun-7-2026A stone placed by settlers on the road leading to the Thiel family's territory in Rahwa
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Susiya
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Susiya The Palestinian area lies between the settlement of Susya and a military base. The residents began to settle in areas outside the villages in the 1830s and lived in caves, tents and sukkot. To this day they maintain a traditional lifestyle and their livelihood is based on agriculture and herding. Until the 1948 war, the farmers cultivated areas that extended to the Arad area. As a result of the war, a significant portion of their land left on the Israeli side was lost. After the 1967 war and the Israeli occupation, military camps were established in the area, fire zones and nature reserves were declared, and the land area was further reduced. The Jewish settlement in Susya began in 1979. Since then, there has been a stubborn struggle to remove the remains of Palestinian residents who refuse to leave their place of birth and move to nearby town Yatta. With the development of a tourist site in Khirbet Susya in the late 1980s (an ancient synagogue), dozens of families living in caves in its vicinity were deported. In the second half of the 1990s, a new form of settlement developed in the area - shepherds' farms of individual settlers. This phenomenon increased the tension between the settlers and the original, Palestinian residents, and led to repeated harassment of the residents of the farms towards the Palestinians. At the same time, demolition of buildings and crop destruction by security forces continued, as well as water and electricity prevention. In the Palestinian Susya, as in a large part of the villages of the southern Hebron Mountains, there is no running water, but the water pipe that supplies water to the Susya Jewish settlement passes through it. Palestinians have to buy expensive water that comes in tankers. Solar electricity is provided by a collector system, installed with donation funds. But the frequent demolitions in the villages do not spare water cisterns or the solar panels and power poles designed to transfer solar electricity between the villages. Updated April 2021, Anat T.
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