South Hebron Hills, Zif Junction
We went to see what the army had been doing in South Hebron last week. We read about it in the Palestinian news, Maan (by the grace of Paula).
Today there were no army vehicles.
We counted six new caravans . There Chaya of “Our wonderful country” is enjoying herself. The lords of the land are enlarging their kingdom with no limitation.
A new neighborhood is being built at the Asael outpost. We dared and entered the outpost. At the gate was a woman soldier who let us through with no problem. A beautiful settlement. Apartheid at its best. The richness of the settlers compared to the miserable conditions of their neighbors, in Tuwani, is infuriating.
Anew neighborhood at the settlement of Maon.
At the end of the settlement we saw this sign. Also the chicken coops which the children of Umm Tuba reached on their way to school. They still need the army to guard them from the terrorism of the settlers.
On road 356 there is already a sign pointing to Mitzpeh Ziv. The geographic taking over of the occupation
At the crossroads at the entrance to Hever, the same entrance to Bani Naim. Only there there is a locked gate, cement barriers and soldiers with pointed rifles which has become a routine sight.
The holy site of the grave of Lot. There is no entrance without the permission of the watch tower.
The barricade to Bani Naim and the grave of Lot. There is a barrier and an old erased sign warning against entering the area.
The apartheid of the occupation is in every corner.


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
Michal TsadikJul-25-2025The interior of the burnt house
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Zif Junction
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Zif Junction located on the crossroads that directs towards Road 356 to Yata. Yata is the district city of the southern Hebron Mountains. Usually, this junction is open to traffic. The nearby pillbox is unmanned. But the army and police are present occasionally, sometimes setting up a checkpoint and sometimes detaining residents from the big city. Often, the Israeli policemen inspect vehicles and distribute driving reports to Palestinian vehicles. s
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