Southern Hebron Hills: The villages are locked down and the situation is difficult and worsening.
Meitar Checkpoint is abandoned as it has been since October 7th when the war began. Workers are still not permitted to cross into Israel and the situation is becoming more and more desperate. People have no work or livelihood and pressure are becoming more difficult.
We drove along Route 60 where there is more traffic because the side roads and unpaved roads are closed and people have to make detours, using more fuel and taking a longer time. The unofficial entrance to Samua from Route 60 was closed and blocked by large boulders. People attempted to move them and open the road. Another entrance on a dirt road was blocked by a car that was stuck because the driver had attempted to cross and the army had taken the keys and left.
The main entrance to Samua is closed. There are no soldiers and no one can cross, and no one can enter if they need to.
The entrance to Dahariya from Route 60 via Ramadin is also closed. Drivers have to make a 30-kilometer detour in order to get to Dahariya. The entrance to Dahariya from Etniel is closed and has been alternately opened and closed.
We arrived in Farhan. The entrance to the village of Simieh was also closed and blocked with boulders and the residents opened it again. Several days ago all the entrances to Samua and Lakama for hours until the residents opened them. The village of Simiya was also serves as a route for getting to Samua.
Vacation between the two semesters is beginning. The teachers have not received their salaries from the Palestinian Authority for three months because there is no money. Everyone is in distress, including Farhan, whose car is broken and he has no money to repair it. He is pleading for help because he needs his car for work.
The situation is becoming worse and the Israeli government is doing nothing to calm things down and alleviate the situation.
Location Description
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
Daphna JungMar-16-2025Simia: Farhan and his wife
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