Susiya - Settlers Shem Tov Luski and his assistants expelled the Palestinians from the pasture
The shift was dedicated to the Nawaja’a families in B who are once again suffering from violent harassment by settlers.
But first we went to see what the road from the Meitar checkpoint to Ramadin looks like. Again, all the access roads are blocked by piles of dirt and stones.
Near the checkpoint, a group of people aroused our interest, getting out of a car. Indeed, in a short clarification with them, they explained that they had tried to go to work and were caught. “Thank goodness.” Maybe this time because of Ramadan they were simply sent home and not arrested.
We came to Ahmad Nawaja’a. He and his wife and their two daughters, live in a shack in this area between the old Susiya and the Susiya settlement. When we arrived, we saw them and two volunteers from the US herding the sheep back to the pen. It turns out that they had tried to graze a little in the area near their “home” despite the poor pastures this year. But then Shem Tov Luski and his helpers arrived again and chased them away, threatening that they should go home and, if they did not do so, they would arrest them. We were afraid, he said, that they would beat him as they had done before or take the sheep.
The volunteers sleep with them and accompany when they go out to graze, and yet everyone is worried because three weeks ago they almost took his sheep. He says that last night they came again, threw stones, shouted Ramadan Kareem and good night. They scared the girls, who screamed and cried. A relative who arrived from Yatta had their car broken into. The volunteers filmed and gave us the video, but in the darkness the video is not clear.
Ahmad continues, saying that last Wednesday, while he was grazing his flock at noon, four masked settlers in two vehicles approached him and tried to snatch his stick with which he drives the sheep. They beat him with a stick on his legs and back, broke his nose. They shouted: “Get out of here, it’s our land!”
“I didn’t call the police,” he says, “because they left immediately.” But he filed a complaint about the stones and the beatings at the Kiryat Arba police station. He waited there from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Even then, they only took him in after he called attorney, Kamar Mishraki, who referred him to her partner, attorney Neta Amar. Only after she had spoken to the police was he taken in for questioning.
Again, he received a paper from them, and again, apparently nothing came of the complaint (I saw the complaint). Then he went to the hospital and was examined. (I saw the letter detailing his condition).
We brought the family food and equipment that we received from donors.
From there we went to Azzam and Wadha, who live not far away. Azzam, in fluent Hebrew and with great intelligence, continues to talk about what is happening in their lives, in the difficult and all-too-frequent encounter with the settlers around them. He mentions their names again: Amishav Peled from the new settlement that we already reported on, “Shepherds’ Abode Farm,” and Gadi Luski and his sons, Shem Tov and Uriya, who live near the ancient Susiya site. One of them trains dogs for the IDF, he says.The hilltop boys are coming to them for reinforcements. Azzam says that they came the last few nights, threw stones and broke windows in his neighbourhood, and also vandalized what they could and took the cameras.
“That’s not how you educate children,” says Azzam. “What will happen to them in the future when the situation calms down? They will remain criminals. If this is how they are educated for violence, then they will remain violent.” (How right he is). Sometimes 15-20 15-year-old boys come and hang around, shouting, cursing and throwing stones.
“I told them,” Pass quietly and walk quietly.” A 15-year-old boy approached him with a knife and asked: “Do you want to die?”
When he called the police, the policeman arrived and took the knife away from the boy. “I sent a warning to the family,” the policeman says.
And these children continue on their way. “If a Palestinian came with a knife and threatened a Jew, they would immediately eliminate him,” says Azzam.
In recent nights, the police have been walking around all night patrolling. “It’s good for us,” says Azzam. “I feel safer when they are here.”
But they usually stand aside, just showing up and doing nothing, unless they think Palestinians are reacting. When he calls the police and complains about trespassing, they ask him: “Do you have any documents proving ownership of the land? Send us a photo of the tabu.”
“First, save me.” He tells them, “And then check. The court has had photos of all these documents for years.”
“We want proof now,” the police say.
“How come the settlers always run away as soon as the police come? “Everyone knows they’re committing a crime,” Wad המחסום הסגור, מכוניות חונות ואנשים עוברים רגלית מצד אל צדha and Azzam say. And she laughs as she says, “They’re shouting Ramadan Kareem at us, really blessing us.”
The volunteers are also scared, they say.
Two weeks ago, they were sent away for 14 days because they were filming. “They’ll be back tomorrow,” they say.
We parted ways with Azzam’s question echoing in my ears: What kind of people will grow up from this youth who are being educated for such violence against people?
Location Description
Meitar checkpoint / Sansana
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Meitar Checkpoint / Sansana The checkpoint is located on the Green Line and serves as a border crossing between Israel and the West Bank. It is managed by the Border Crossing Authority of the Defense Ministry. It is comprised of sections for the transfer of goods as well as a vehicle checkpoint (intended for holders of blue identity cards, foreign nationals or diplomats and international organizations). Passing of Palestinians is prohibited, except for those with entry permits to Israel. Palestinians are permitted to cross on foot only. The crossing has a DCO / DCL / DCL / DCL (District Coordination Office), a customs unit, supervision, and a police unit. In the last year, a breach has been opened in the fence, not far from the crossing. This breach is known to all, including the army. There does not appear to be any interest in blocking it, probably as it permits needed Palestinian workers without the bureaucratic permits to get to work in Israel. Food stalls and a parking area economy have been created, but incidents of violent abuse by border police have also been recorded. Updated April 2022
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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
Daphna JungMar-16-2025Simia: Farhan and his wife
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Susiya
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Susiya The Palestinian area lies between the settlement of Susya and a military base. The residents began to settle in areas outside the villages in the 1830s and lived in caves, tents and sukkot. To this day they maintain a traditional lifestyle and their livelihood is based on agriculture and herding. Until the 1948 war, the farmers cultivated areas that extended to the Arad area. As a result of the war, a significant portion of their land left on the Israeli side was lost. After the 1967 war and the Israeli occupation, military camps were established in the area, fire zones and nature reserves were declared, and the land area was further reduced. The Jewish settlement in Susya began in 1979. Since then, there has been a stubborn struggle to remove the remains of Palestinian residents who refuse to leave their place of birth and move to nearby town Yatta. With the development of a tourist site in Khirbet Susya in the late 1980s (an ancient synagogue), dozens of families living in caves in its vicinity were deported. In the second half of the 1990s, a new form of settlement developed in the area - shepherds' farms of individual settlers. This phenomenon increased the tension between the settlers and the original, Palestinian residents, and led to repeated harassment of the residents of the farms towards the Palestinians. At the same time, demolition of buildings and crop destruction by security forces continued, as well as water and electricity prevention. In the Palestinian Susya, as in a large part of the villages of the southern Hebron Mountains, there is no running water, but the water pipe that supplies water to the Susya Jewish settlement passes through it. Palestinians have to buy expensive water that comes in tankers. Solar electricity is provided by a collector system, installed with donation funds. But the frequent demolitions in the villages do not spare water cisterns or the solar panels and power poles designed to transfer solar electricity between the villages. Updated April 2021, Anat T.
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