South Hebron Hills, Tarqumiya
The subject of the discussion today in Susiya: Workers from the Palestinian Authority working in Israel.
Construction workers who live in Yatta and work in Jerusalem, Ness Ziona and Ashdod, tell me about their daily routine:
Wake up at 2:30 AM
3:00 am, a minibus that takes them to the Tarqumiya checkpoint.
Time passes through the checkpoint between half an hour and an hour and a half. Sometimes only one or two portholes are open to the workers’ crossing and cause a further delay.
Between 06:00 and 06:30 we wait for service taxis to take them to the construction sites.
The workers arrive at work between 08:30 and 09:00.
From the moment of waking until the beginning of the work, they undergo about 6 hours.
Returning home takes much less time two to three hours.
From time to time there are not enough service vehicles on the Israeli side for all the workers and they are forced to return home as they came.
The wages of a worker who succeeds in working with a contractor’s approval range around NIS 400 per day.
A monthly permit costs NIS 2,000.
Transportation and food costs NIS 1,500.
Net salary: NIS 4,500.
A worker who receives a pay slip receives medical insurance.
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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
Yael ZoranJun-18-2026An ambulance is waiting in front of the closed checkpoint in El-Fawwar
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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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