The Abu Kbeita family - Beit Yatir settlers uproot and re-uproot the family's olive trees
After many sad conversations with Mustafa over the weekend, also at 12 p.m. on the night of 2.6.24, it was clear that we must visit them so as to see, hear and help as best we can. Already days and nights before we came, he sent me photos of olive trees that were uprooted at night by the Beit Yatir settlers who live next door to their land. When they called the police, the officers showed them the pile of uprooted trees, which allowed them to replant the next day. In the photos he sent, I saw the children planting happily.
And this is partly because the High Court ruled that the land belonged to them and was returned after the settlers’ attempt to take over (I wrote about this in previous reports).
The next night, at 12:00, Mustafa called and showed pictures of the same uprooted olive trees again. This time the settlers also broke and stole the trees so that, God forbid, they should not be planted them again.
The families of Abu Kbeita, as I reported, live beyond the checkpoint, Metzadot Yehuda, in the area which is considered to be in Israel and the fence bypasses them. This special situation leaves them as residents of Israel but without rights. The children go to study in Imneizil and go through the checkpoint every day and every time they need to go shopping in Yatta they also have to pass through.
Again, to mention that since 7.10 the settlers have been making their lives very hard and are looking for and finding reasons for arrests, harassment and there are repeated attempts to take over territories that are not theirs. The economic hardship is terrible in the absence of permits to work in in Israel and there are also restrictions which make it difficult for them to take the flock to pasture and work their fields. Thanks to your donations, we were able to provide basic necessities and food for 5 families, as well as bags of donated clothes and shoes. The children already knew we were coming and happily unpacked the bags of food and clothes.
Othman, whose hand was severely injured by a settler attack, was arrested and detained for two months for no reason. He says that due to the lack of medical treatment in prison, the hand remains painfully injured and he has difficulty functioning with it. In addition to the uprooting of the trees which began on Friday, June 1, the settlers returned and uprooted trees again on Tuesday night and also stole the seedlings for the second time. The police are called every time and come, but apart from demonstrating their presence and offering to go file a complaint, they do nothing.
Why don’t they charge the complaint and register it so that the people don’t have to challenge themselves to get to the Kiryat Arba police in this crazy reality? To the god of the occupation the solutions. These were 20 beautiful and large olive seedlings that a friend in Yatta who owns a nursery donated to them.
Mustafa and Othman also say that a few days ago settlers wearing uniforms (impersonating settlers) came at noon and just walked around their houses without saying anything and left.
And this is an event that repeats itself all the time.
Abuse of authority
The planting and uprooting photos were taken by the Abu Kbeita family.
Imneizil
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Imneizil Located below the settlement of Beit Yatir near the Beit Yatir / Metsadot Yehuda checkpointhe, this village is part of the Palestinian settlements in the southern Hebron Mountains.Amnesiel has a school for the children of the area, also children of two clans from the Abu Qabita tribe who remained on the Israeli side of the Separation fence, along with some of the agricultural lands of Amnesiel. The women of MachsomWatch are monitoring the Metzsadot Yehuda checkpoint, and are in contact with the Abu Qabita family. We receive from them reports of prevention of entry and transfer of necessary goods.
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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
A Palestinian residentMay-12-2025A sheep carcass dumped by settler Shimon Atiya from the Shorashim farm near the school in Umm Qusa.
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