South Hebron Hills, Thu 1.11.12, Morning
Purpose of the shift: Activity #2 for this year in the Hashem el-Daraj preschool, together with Huda.
All activities are taking place in the new preschool. 30 children were present today as was a local woman. There were also two women from the UK – one, an artist and the other, a photographer – both women have been staying in the preschool to paint its exterior walls and photograph the paintings. Eid from Um-el-Hir also helped with the paintings. When we arrived the children were sitting around tables in the big classroom.
Topic of the activity: The planned project was Panus (lantern)-el-Eid (feast) in honor of the Muslim holiday. However, before starting the project, we tried to model the reading of a story in a way that the children would actively participate rather than sit passively. The reason for doing so is that it is hard to get 30 young children to pay attention to a story when they can’t see the pictures in the book which is what happens when the children are seated around tables, some of the distant from the story being read.
We moved to the second classroom in the preschool for the story reading. This classroom has carpets so the children were able to sit in a circle on the carpets while Huda read the story “The Tale of Five Balloons”. This story was read at our last visit to the preschool. This time, we taught the children several hand movements (e.g., clapping) and words to call out (boom!, trak!) at particular places in the story. After the first reading of the story, we then divided the children into five groups and gave each group a different colored balloon. The story was then read again and each group responded when the color of the group’s balloon was mentioned.
Since the activity took longer than anticipated, we did not have time for the Panus (lantern)-el-Eid (feast) activity. Instead, in the remaining time, we played several circle games.
Pictures of the activity (Judy – The album of October 11 2012
https://picasaweb.google.com/113044451662544057850?authkey=Gv1sRgCNS_j8qy0sCOGA
“Staff” meeting: At the end of the activity, Hamed Qawasmeh from Hebron arrived and we all sat together to discuss the continuation of activities and to decide on equipment needed for the preschool.
On Saturday 1.12.2012, we are planning a workshop for preschool teachers including those from Um-el-Hir. Suha, who helps us with the planning and preparation of our activities at the preschool, will lead the workshop.
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
Raya YeorMay-15-2025No-traffic signs around Dahariya
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