Umm Qusa - a settler is suspected of killing a female camel
We haven’t driven on Route 60 for several weeks and we decided to reach the village of Umm Qusa, this way, to check what is happening with the checkpoints that were placed at all the entrances and exits, in the entire area
One of the entrances to Samu’, on Route 60, has been opened, which makes it somewhat easier for the residents of the area who find it very difficult to get to purchase food, health services and everything needed for daily life.
At the Fawwar intersection, which is between Dura and Fawwar, a group coming from Dura to Fawwar walks, by car they reach the checkpoint at Dura on road 60, and continue to Fawwar.
At the Qilqis junction, checkpoints as usual. We filmed to show how difficult it makes the routine of life there. Women, men and children, walking, cross the square and on the other side yellow taxis are waiting with which they will reach Hebron.
We were able to see a woman in advanced pregnancy and a couple with a baby being carried by his father. Terrible heat, the sun is beating down, there is not a drop of humanity in this situation.
We continued to Route 365, the Zif junction, and we see a convoy of cars facing Yatta, the big city, which provides basic services, academic studies, a hospital.
The Zif junction which connects road 356 to Yatta – the district city of South Mount Hebron – is usually open to traffic and the pillbox nearby is unmanned. But the army and the police are present from time to time, sometimes setting up a roadblock and sometimes detaining residents of Yatta, the big city. Sometimes the Israeli police check vehicles, and hand out driving reports to Palestinian vehicles.
We were able to see a woman in advanced pregnancy and a couple with a baby being carried by his father. Terrible heat, the sun is beating down, there is not a drop of humanity in this situation.
We continued to Route 365, the Zif junction, and we see a convoy of cars facing Yatta, the big city, which provides basic services, academic studies, a hospital.
The Zif junction which connects road 356 to Yatta – the district city of South Mount Hebron – is usually open to traffic and the pillbox nearby is unmanned. But the army and the police are present from time to time, sometimes setting up a roadblock and sometimes detaining residents of Yatta, the big city. Sometimes the Israeli police check vehicles, and hand out driving reports to Palestinian vehicles.
We enter Nabil’s grocery store to purchase a package of food for two families we will visit. When we finished the purchase and set off, the convoy that was delayed by additional vehicles arriving at the scene, stopped. At the checkpoint that is the only entry to Yatta, a military car and border policemen, don’t allow passage.
Umm Qusa is a small village and suffers every day from a settler we have already told about, named Yoav Etzion. Yoav Etzion found a high point in Umm Daraj where there used to be a British police station, and he established an outpost there. He fenced off the area, according to his will, and decided that the Palestinians who graze sheep and camels there are left with very little land to graze. He repeatedly threatens that whoever dares to violate his demands will take a risk.
We got there today after our friend Najah sent a picture of a camel lying dead on the ground.
Four days before our arrival, at approximately 6:00 in the morning, Saleh Jahlin, who owns several camels and female camels, heard a shot. He came immediately to check the meaning of the shootings and saw Yoav Etzion accompanied by 2 other settlers. He immediately realized that Yoav, the shooter, acted this way because, according to him, they were invading an area that he defined as forbidden for Palestinians to graze.
In the incident, the female camel was killed and two other camels were injured, but a veterinarian who was called to treat them, managed to save them.
A female camel costs around 16,000 NIS.
It is important to note that both the Jahlin and the Ka’abna are Bedouin tribes who were deported from the Tel Arad area in 1948 to this area.
Inspectors from the Nature Reserves Authority came to investigate the incident, and Yoav Etzion denied he shot.
Saleh Jahlin went today, 14.7.24, to file a complaint at the Kiryat Arba police station.
The result is known in advance.
We left the food package and toys for the children who were already waiting for our arrival.
This is the occupation.
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
Muhammad D.May-13-2025Susiya - at Ahmad and Halima Nawaja'a
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