The Abu Kbeta family - cut off from the district town and the school because of the Metsadot Yehuda checkpoint
Michal (reporting) and Muhammad (photographing); Translator: Natanya
We dedicated the shift to visiting the compound of the Abu Kbeta families who, as I have mentioned, live next to the Beit Yatir settlement, next to the Metsadot Yehuda checkpoint. They are on the Israeli side of the fence but must buy everything at Yatta and their children go to school in Amneinzil across the barrier every morning and must have the appropriate kushan (birth certificate). We brought them various items of food that will be divided between at least 5 families. Thanks to the donations we were able to fill the trunk of the car. Vegetable donations from the owner of a vegetable shop in Hura who generously gave us quite a lot of vegetables and fruits.
We were happy to meet there Anton from “Rabbi’s Voice for Human Rights” and two young volunteers (glad to see that we have some successors).
Anton says that he had some fruit left over from the distribution in Hebron and brought it there. Mustafa, one of the brothers, says that their legal battle against the settlement is in progress. Only this morning there was supposed to be a meeting at the court and it was postponed.
To remind you: a few years ago, they won their case in the High Court and a fence the settlers had tried to install around their plots was removed by order of the High Court and the settlers were forced to withdraw from their plan to confiscate these lands. During the last months of the war, the settlers went on a rampage and succeeded in falsely arresting three family members under false pretences. Othman still needed medical treatment for his crushed hand from the arrest. The one and only Erela continues to provide him with the medicine he needs.
At this time, the settlers took advantage of the opportunity and once again fenced off the lands in order to avenge the actions of Hamas in Gaza and return these (according to them) state lands. Mustafa praises Kamar, their lawyer, who fights and does not give up. There will probably be another discussion in the High Court. At the moment, they are prevented from going out to graze and cultivate the land and they only go out with the herd to the plot closest to their residences.
Of course, everyone is out of work now and there is no money to buy food. The children go to school sometimes only because there, too, the teachers are on strike and when they don’t get paid. 25 kids hang around there doing nothing most of the time.
When we arrived, the children were happy to meet us and brought us a bouquet of bulbs that they had just picked in the field. Little Maria went to wear her holiday dress with the typical Palestinian embroidery.
Mustafa says that in recent weeks it has been quiet on the part of the settlers and the army and not as it was the past few months, when they were harassed and threatened all the time.
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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