The Abu Kbeita family - Harassments from members of the Talia family
Today we went to the compound of the Abu Kbeita families who live next to the settlement of Beit Yatir on the Israeli side of the Metsadot Yehuda checkpoint. They suffer both from the people of this settlement and from the Talia family who live on their farm not far from them.
We have written more than once about the sons of the late Yaakov Talia, who have been enlisted as soldiers since October 7th and have been walking around in army uniform and weapons with the authority and permission to terrify the families. The situation worsened after their mother was murdered by Hamas when she came to visit their sister in a kibbutz in the Gaza Envelope.
We bought food supplies to distribute to 5 households.
Mustafa Abu Kbeita, who was supposed to meet us, got stuck at the checkpoint with the water container he had brought from Imneizel. The tests they did on this water made him wait a long time at the checkpoint, despite the fact that this is a routine. He buys, transports and passes with a water container which he has to buy every time. The Palestinians do not have access to water like their Jewish neighbours.
We arrived at his cousin, Mahmud Abu Kbeita. The ruins of the house he built for his son many months ago and was demolished by the Civil Administration are still standing. We wrote and photographed before about this. Of course, none of his sons go out to work and they try to live on their herd and their land.
He and his son tell of a routine of harassment by Bezalel and Yedidiya Talia, who follow them when they go to the checkpoint. They take photos and making false complaints about the Palestinians to the soldiers at the checkpoint.
Michal (photographing and reporting) with Muhammad (photographing). Translator: Natanya
Michal (photographing and reporting) with Muhammad (photographing). Translator: Natanya
Michal (photographing and reporting) with Muhammad (photographing). Translator: Natanya
The Palestinians feel that they are trying to create provocations to drag them into reactions that will incriminate them. He tells of an incident from early December. Osama, his son, received a telephone call to come to be questioned by the Hebron police following a complaint by Bezalel Talia. They drove to Hebron, which is now closed off from almost all sides to Palestinians, and waited two and a half hours, despite the fact that they had been called by the police, until they could enter by the only crossing in the Halhul area.
“You know, we are suspected terrorists all the time.” Mahmud says sarcastically. “What was the complaint?”
“The complaint was that you entered the Talia farm and threw a Molotov cocktail.”
“Show me a photo,” Osama asks. After all, everything is monitored and networked with cameras. But the police did not want to do so.
“Pay 5,000 NIS and you will be released on bail,” they tell him.
This time he argued and insisted that it was a lie.
“We are not able to go to our own lands,” says Mahmud, “so we’re going to enter their farm? Just pay? You know that in the last year I’ve already paid 20,000 NIS because of their false complaints.”
But this time the police gave up. Someone must have understood and believed that Bezalel and his friends Talia were lying. This time the insistence was successful, and he was released without a fine
“They managed to discourage the people of Zanuta, the Abu Safi family in Wadi Radim and the people of Wadada.
People left their lands, so they continue and want us all to despair and leave our lands.
“But we won’t go,” Mahmud repeats.
That’s how they live there.
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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Zanuta
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Zanuta was a small rural Palestinian locality until its demolition. It was situated in the space around the town Dahariya in the South Hebron Hills, about a ten-minute ride from Meitar Checkpoint. There are documented remains of a large Byzantine settlement in the area. Since the Ottoman (Turkish Empire) period (1516-1917) Zanuta was documented as a locality of shepherds and farmers who live in the remains of the ancient structures and the residential caves near them.
Two individual ranches of colonists were created next to Zanuta: Meitarim (of the colonist Yinon Levi) to the east, and Yehudah (of the colonist Elyashiv Nachum) to the north. Endless attacks, harassments and attempt to chase away the Zanuta villagers have originated in these two outposts.
Until the expulsion, four families lived in the village: A-Samama, Al-Tel, Al Batat, and Al-Qaisia. Farming constituted their main economic activity and employed most of the villagers. The total area of the village is about 12,000 dunams, of which about 3,000 are tended, mostly with field crops.
This village has never had a master plan that would legitimize construction permits. The Civil Administration claimed it was too small and the distance to the next town, Dahariya, too great. For this reason, the Israeli authorities pressured the villagers to leave. The colonists did the job for them.
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