Southern Hebron Hills, Heron, Sansana (Meiter crossing)
.Translator: Charles K
Meitar crossing
The crossing is crowded with trucks. The laborers have already crossed. Relatives of prisoners who arrived in two buses wait their turn.
Route 60
The road to Hebron looks like it usually does up until the turn to Samu’a. Once again, a flying checkpoint is causing a delay. Soldiers inspect the cars and taxis going in.
At the Dura Elfawwar junction, at the entrance to Dura, soldiers inspect the vehicles going in.
Below Beit Haggai, next to the locked gate to the southern entrance to Hebron, they’ve added a razor-wire fence and a patrol of soldiers.
At the Kvasim junction soldiers are again in the area of the quarries in the industrial zone at the outskirts of Hebron.
Hebron
A post manned by a soldier has been placed at the entrance to Kiryat Arba. Nor is this unimagineable. The civilian guard looks like a settler. A sour expression on his face, he investigates and interrogates us, and our reason for coming. It seems he’d be happier if he could keep us out. The roadworks on the grandiose entry road to Kiryat Arab are nearing completion, as is the construction of the Nofei Mamreh neighborhood rising above us.
It looks like the settlement of “Mizpeh Avichai” has been rejuvenated.
In town, the usual Occupation routine, though we saw no detainees at any of the checkpoints. CPT members tell us they, and the residents, are under less pressure than last week.
On the way back we saw a group of Kiryat Arba security guards and local residents, right outside the Palestinian houses opposite the army base at the entrance to the city.
We stopped to find out what was happening. The guard said rocks had been thrown at a passing vehicle, breaking its windows. The residents are very upset, claiming that no such thing happened. In answer to my question, the security guard says that it doesn’t make sense to him, since the neighborhood is normally quiet, but he has to check it out. The residents are yelling, saying their child was only sweeping, and threw no stones. The army arrives, the police arrive, and it looks to us that they’re starting to “cook up” a provocation in order to have a reason to remove them. Urban development is more important that human rights in “Abraham’s city.” We’ll follow up. It’s important to know what will happen to the families – hopefully it won’t develop into another conflict.
On our way back, the soldiers had disappeared from all the locations where we’d seen them in the morning.
Hebron
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According to Wye Plantation Accords (1997), Hebron is divided in two: H1 is under Palestinian Authority control, H2 is under Israeli control. In Hebron there are 170,000 Palestinian citizens, 60,000 of them in H2. Between the two areas are permanent checkpoints, manned at all hours, preventing Palestinian movement between them and controlling passage of permit holders such as teachers and schoolchildren. Some 800 Jews live in Avraham Avinu Quarter and Tel Rumeida, on Givat HaAvot and in the wholesale market.
Checkpoints observed in H2:
- Bet Hameriva CP- manned with a pillbox
- Kapisha quarter CP (the northern side of Zion axis) - manned with a pillbox
- The 160 turn CP (the southern side of Zion axis) - manned with a pillbox
- Avraham Avinu quarter - watch station
- The pharmacy CP - checking inside a caravan with a magnometer
- Tarpat (1929) CP - checking inside a caravan with a magnometer
- Tel Rumeida CP - guarding station
- Beit Hadassah CP - guarding station
Three checkpoints around the Tomb of the Patriarchs
Raya YeorDec-18-2025Hebron - Yusri Jaber and part of his family
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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
Michal TsadikJan-29-2026Umm al-Khair - a security risk for Carmel settlers
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