Umm Kusa - the settler Yoav appears and shows his presence to remind us who is the ruler
Shift to Umm Kusa
We started the patrol by driving past the checkpoints on Route 60.
South Samui’– open and no soldiers checking entry and exit.
Simia – the entrance to the village was blocked but a bypass road was opened nearby.
North Dahariya – This week the checkpoint was closed again, after about two weeks of opening part of it in the previous two weeks. Many vehicles are waiting on both sides of the checkpoint, we call it back-to-back. Passengers get out of the vehicle on one side of the checkpoint, cross it on foot and continue to their destination with a vehicle waiting on the other side.
Karma – open
Qilqis – closed on both sides of the road. Palestinians are required to cross on foot from one side to the other.
Sheep Junction – open
Zif Junction, Highway 356 – open
We stopped at Nabil’s grocery store at the Zif Junction to purchase a basket of food for Najah and Shahin Ta’imat, in Umm Kusa. Najah has not worked since the war and their situation is difficult, because they do not have sheep and only an olive grove that allows for a little income. The children in the Palestinian Authority are on vacation, starting today for two weeks. They are at home and spending two weeks playing games they make up, watching TV and being bored.
We go for a few minutes to see the outpost that Yoav, a settler, established at the British police station. According to Najah, there are army training sessions and soldiers pass by the village often. Sometimes you see flares, which is very scary for the children.
Yoav, the settler, comes to show his presence several times a week, to remind you who is in charge.
As in all villages, here too, the owners of the flocks are not allowed to graze beyond 100 meters. Uday, Najah’s brother, who has a flock of about 70 sheep, is afraid to go out to pasture and asks for an escort.
Location Description
Hakvasim (sheep) Junction
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One of the roadblocks (earthworks, rocks, concrete blocks or iron gates) that prevent transit of vehicles to Route 60 in the southern West Bank and block the southern entrance to Hebron. A manned pillbox supervises the place.
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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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Zif Junction
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Zif Junction located on the crossroads that directs towards Road 356 to Yata. Yata is the district city of the southern Hebron Mountains. Usually, this junction is open to traffic. The nearby pillbox is unmanned. But the army and police are present occasionally, sometimes setting up a checkpoint and sometimes detaining residents from the big city. Often, the Israeli policemen inspect vehicles and distribute driving reports to Palestinian vehicles. s
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