A-Rakiz - Bodi Bodenheimer, of the Abigail settlement, poured diesel fuel into Sheikh Said's water well
On our way to Tuwani, we passed by Zanuta, now abandoned after its residents were expelled. In the area near Route 60, a herd of cows and a man on horseback, a guard. It stings the heart every time.
As I wrote before, since the war, about seven families whom we used to visit have been expelled from their land. Throughout all the occupied territories, not a day goes by without settlers, through what is described as Jewish terror, attempting to carry out ethnic expulsion. This is government policy, in full cooperation with the army. Everything is documented.
This time we drove to Sheikh Sa’id from Rakiz, near A-Tuwani. Before that, we stopped at the grocery store in A-Tuwani to buy food supplies for the family.
When we arrived, we were warmly welcomed by his two wives and the children who were at home. We unloaded from the vehicle several chairs I had received as a donation. During our previous visit, they had asked us to try to find chairs for them.
Sheikh Sa’id was already waiting for us near his room. We sat outside, and the view was beautiful yet deceptive. Opposite stands the home of the family of Harun al‑Aram, who was shot in the neck, suffered for two years, and died.
Not far from there is Sarura, whose few remaining residents were expelled, leaving the area empty. (They were forced to move to Yatta.)
Sa’id says that his grandfather purchased the land he sits on and opposite lived his uncle—until he too was expelled.
Binyamin Bodenheimer, the security coordinator of the nearby settlement of Avigayil, and Amichai Shilo, owner of the Daromah farm near the home of Leila and Muhammad Jabarin in Sha’ab al‑Butum, cooperate relentlessly and with terrible cruelty in their efforts to remove the residents of the area.
It was Bodenheimer who entered Sheikh Sa’id’s land nearly a year ago and shot him in the leg, which later had to be amputated below the knee. Since then, at every opportunity he comes, pushes the disabled Sheikh Sa’id to the ground, and brings his flock into the olive grove, damaging the grove as well.
One of the women approached us holding a bucket. Looking inside, we saw diesel floating on the surface. Sheikh Sa’id explained that about two weeks earlier, when he travelled for a medical checkup at Yatta Hospital, his wife called him and told him that Budi Bodenheimer had arrived with his pickup truck and poured diesel into the family’s water well—the well from which they drink, bathe, and water their trees. All that remains is to wait for the rains to come and wash away the contamination.
There is no limit to this abuse, all carried out in the name of Jewish supremacy.
We left clothing and toys we had brought and returned to Tuwani.
In Tuwani we met Nasser Adra at the grocery store to buy basic food supplies for Muhammad from Mufaqara, whose four‑year‑old daughter had undergone surgery. We also left clothing and toys for them. Nasser delivered everything to them when he visited later.
The distress is growing. The settlers’ boldness, fully backed by the army, knows no bounds.
#ThisIsTheOccupation
Location Description
A-Tuwani
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A-Tuwani
The locals came to a-Tuwani during the 20th century from the village of Yatta. They settled in abandoned ruins, utilizing the arable land, pastures for grazing sheep and the abundance of natural caves for habitation. The residents who settled in the caves came from families who could not purchase land for houses in the mother villages, as well as shepherds who did not have enough land to graze. They were joined by clan members who quarreled with other families in the mother locality.
Some of the residents today live in concrete buildings built above the caves. In the area of the village are several water cisterns and an ancient water well called 'Ein a-Tuwani. Local residents are forced to buy water in containers and transport them through many road blocks to the village. With the help of international organizations, an electrical system was installed in the village. In the late 90s of the 20tTh century, an elementary school was established in the serving several small villages in the area.
In 2004, MachsomWatch began visiting and reporting from the Khirbet Tuwani cave village, which suffers badly from the settlers of nearby outposts, and especially from the extremist Ma'on outpost. . The settlers contaminate cisterns, poison the flocks and uproot trees.Particularly notable is the harassment of children from the surrounding villages on their way to school in a-Tuwani, so much so that military escort of children is required to separate them from the attackers (this was arranged following an initiative of the organization's members). In the past year, the escort has been without the vital presence of overseas volunteers.
Near a-Tuwani there are several families who have returned to the caves due to the incessant demolitions of the civil administration (as there is a total construction ban in all of area C). Destroyed are not only residential and agricultural buildings, but also water pipes, machinery. Even water cisterns are clogged up. a-Tuwani residents have created an association for non-violent demolition protests, but in the past year the army’s harsh harassment and settler violence have intensified and escalated. The incident of the small generator confiscation, which left a young man paralyzed, is one of many examples - any legitimate protection of property rights leads to violence and even shootings by the army and the civil administration.
Updated April 2022
Smadar BeckerApr-10-2026New Israeli flags placed for miles on Highway 317 to prove who is sovereign
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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
Smadar BeckerApr-10-2026New Israeli flags placed for miles on Highway 317 to prove who is sovereign
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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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