Meitar checkpoint: Almost deserted. There are a few cars and trucks but the parking lot is almost empty, which has been the norm since October 7 since workers are not permitted to enter Israel and work here.

Along the roadside, there’s a new IDF observation post.

All the entrance paths to the villages and the surrounding area, which are direct routes, have been blocked with earth or rocks, making every trip lengthy.

Zanuta remains deserted. The villagers are still afraid to return to the homes from which they were evicted even though the court has permitted them to come back.
The son of Faras from Zanuta, who came to the area to graze his flock, was beaten up by settlers and sustained injuries.

We drove on to Susiya to visit Azzam. He said that a team from Medecins sans Frontieres came to visit a few days ago. They come to examine and treat villagers in need of medical assistance. In addition, volunteers from other parts of the world have an apartment in Susiya and they sleep there overnight or with families at risk.

Aggravation by young people from the settlements literally all around Susiya is an everyday occurrence. They come right up to the villagers’ homes and threaten them, pretending to be soldiers in IDF uniform and carrying weapons, and the villagers can’t tell who really are soldiers and who are not.

Azzam is afraid to venture far from home to take his sheep to pasture.  His sons live in the city, a long way from the outposts. There’s no work because, as we’ve said, the Palestinians are forbidden to come into Israel, so they have no livelihood. He sells a sheep from time to time. He doesn’t have much left.

Azzam told us about himself. He was raised by a Jewish family of Holocaust survivors in a moshav. For eight years they treated him like a son. He says it’s hard for him to understand how Jews, young people from the settlements, can be so cruel, so inhumane, and so abusive. He knows other Jews.

Azzam notes that patience is running out for many Palestinians and he’s afraid of an explosion. People are living in a pressure cooker and the pressure needs a release! Internally too, there is pressure on the PA to form a new government.

All the entrances to Hebron, apart from the main one, are still blocked. Enormous detours are necessary to get from place to place – a hassle.

In the fields and orchards, there’s hardly a farmer, herd of cattle or flock of sheep to be seen. People are afraid to venture far from home. And the economy has been severely damaged.