Susiya - The cows of the settler Shem Tov are destroying the olive grove
Following on from what happened in the South Hebron Hills, this time we went to the Ahmad Nawaj’aa family in Susiya. We bought groceries for the family at the Hura supermarket.
A little after Meitar there is an increased presence of the IDF beyond the repaired fence who are looking for illegal workers.
Further on, on road 317 on the hills east of Mitzpe Asael, above Wadi Radim, which was once the home of Abu Safi, may God have mercy on him. His neighbour, Ahmaed, once lived there and was expelled from there before the war by the settler, Israel Kaplan who took over his lands. Now more and more buildings have been added in a new settlement.
In Susiya at the family’s home, we met an older volunteer from Germany who came from Bethlehem to visit. He was happy to meet and talk with Machsom Watch. He had heard of us. The members of this family also talk about the routine harassment of new settlers who settled around them. Besides the old people of the Susiya settlement, there is a man named Shem Tov who lives in ancient Susiya and he and his people harass the Palestinians.
On Friday, the army arrived and simply stopped people who arrived on foot to inspect them. Then his men arrived on two horses and entered their residential compound with a dog (an unclean animal in Islam). Ahmad’s wife heard them giving commands to a dog that sniffed their house and searched with them. After half an hour, more of Shem Tov’s people arrived with their herd of cows and led them to their olive groves. Cows trampled and ate everything they grew. They have no olives now. The cows ate everything.
According to them, they have 30 dunams and everything that grows there was stolen by the settlers from Susiya. Last Sunday, Nasr Nawaja’a managed to take pictures of what was happening and filed a complaint with the Kiryat Arba police. What number complaint? Who knows which one? They police took no steps or any legal action against the settlers this time either.
She also says that her daughters, along with about 20 other children, walk every day 2 km in each direction to school, afraid of the settlers. Sometimes there are volunteers who accompany them, but not always.
When we left, many military vehicles and soldiers arrived. There was no clear reason for this and we had to leave. Later we were informed that they had gone to the ancient Susiya where, as mentioned, the Shem Tov family was located and the hill top boys were helping them.
Also, in front of the old Susiya settlement, across the road, near their cemetery, there was a settlement called Givat Hanan. More caravans have recently been added.
Routine.
Location Description
Masafer Yatta
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This is happening in Fire Area 918 in the South Hebron Hills
On the eve of Remembrance Day (the day before Israel Independence Day), the Israeli High Court decided on the transfer and expulsion of residents from 8 Palestinian communities in the area of Masafar Yata in the South Hebron Hills. Residents of the villages have been living under the threat of demolition, evacuation and expropriation since the IDF issued evacuation orders in 1999 based on the 1980's proclamation of their area of residence as a firing zone for IDF drills. None of the nearby settlements were included in this zone.The Masafer Yata Palestiniian villages retain a special lifestyle and ancient agricultural culture. They also posses a clear historical documentation that testifies to a Palestinian settlement in this area, generations before the establishment of Israel - long ago in the caves and in later times outside them.
Evacuating residents from the area means destroying these historic villages and leaving entire families (about 2,000 people, children, adults and the elderly) homeless. This is contrary to international law.
In June 2022, a firing drill has started, and life has become harder.
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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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