Sha'ab al-Butum - Settlers invade a house and then complain that they were attacked. The result: Those attacked are arrested!
Yesterday I received videos about a difficult incident between the L. and M. Jabarin families in their home and settler Amichai Shilo and his boys. The incident ended with the unnecessary arrest of two members of the family. Today we went to them with a lot of equipment – clothes and games, food products that we bought from donations, and also vegetables and fruit from a dear man who owns a vegetable store in Laqiya. Lately, he has always added more vegetables and fruit to our shopping at his place.
The road to them is increasingly difficult and winding, because of the dirt and stone blockages that constantly grow there.
When we arrived, we were happy to hear and see that the two boys who were arrested yesterday were released after six hours. According to the family members, settler Amichai Shilo, their neighbor, arrived (again) with the herd and with two boys who were helping him, one of whom was named Tzur, already known for his violent behavior. They and the herd arrived at the house, Tzur entered with a stick in his hand and demanded to search the house. The police and the army also arrived because the attackers called them in a complaint that they were attacked by the family.
The settlers invade the house and then complain that they were attacked and their complaint is considered. The result: the attacked are arrested!
They were all put in one room and were not allowed to leave until the search was complete. What were they looking for? The family does not know. They turned the entire house upside down and poured out the contents of the cupboards. The police blocked access to the house to prevent volunteers of all kinds from arriving.
M., the father of the family, says that he called the police but they did not come to his call. When he tried to leave the room, they did not let him leave. Two of the attackers were settlers in uniform, and they instructed the army where to go and what to do.
In addition to the mess they made at the house, the settlers also cut the fence around the plot and tore up the electrical wires that are part of the family’s solar system. They also opened the water tanks and let them flow. One of the settlers tried to enter the room, which was mainly occupied by female relatives, sisters and daughters-in-law with four babies.
M. tried to prevent the violent settler with the stick from entering the room. This was a sufficient excuse to arrest him and his brother F. and take them to the base in Susiya.
They were severely beaten during their arrest and only after six hours were they sent home.
L. says that she went to talk to the police officers who surrounded the house, and asked them to protect them from the settler and his stick. The police officers replied to her: Go, go, just bring us your sons’ ID cards. She went accompanied by four police officers to bring them the cards.
There were large forces there, four vans with 20 soldiers. Heroes one by one.
A volunteer from abroad tried to understand from the soldier why they were arresting the attacked and not the attackers. The soldier replied: Quiet, quiet, go aside. All they cared about was taking pictures of her and her IDs.
M. went to the Kiryat Arba police station to file a complaint. He waited an hour and was questioned by five police officers for four hours. They carefully reviewed all the videos he brought. He understands Hebrew and heard the police officers say that a solution must be found for Amichai and his boys.
When I asked how they treated him there, he replied that they were much better than those who come to attack us.
Such a chronicle!
Location Description
Mesafer Yatta
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This is happening in Fire Area 918 in the South Hebron Hills
On the eve of Remembrance Day (the day before Israel Independence Day), 4th May, 2022, the Israeli High Court decided on the transfer and expulsion of residents from 8 Palestinian communities in the area of Masafar Yata in the South Hebron Hills. Residents of the villages have been living under the threat of demolition, evacuation and expropriation since the IDF issued evacuation orders in 1999 based on the 1980s proclamation of their area of residence as a firing zone for IDF drills. None of the nearby settlements were included in this zone. The Masafer Yata Palestinian villages retain a special lifestyle and ancient agricultural culture. They also posess a clear historical documentation that testifies to a Palestinian settlement in this area, generations before the establishment of Israel, long ago in the caves and at later times outside them.
Evacuating residents from the area means destroying these historic villages and leaving entire families (about 2,000 people, children, adults, and the elderly) homeless. This is contrary to international law.
In June 2022, a firing drill started, and life became harder.
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Sha'ab al-Butum
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This is one of the small Palestinian communities in Masafer Yatta in the southern Hebron Hills, near the settlement of Mitzpe Avigail.
Since the outbreak of the October 7, 2023 war, settler violence against residents has escalated greatly, as in the entire Palestinian community. This violent conduct receives full backing from the state and full cooperation from the IDF. The goal is to make the lives of the Palestinian residents miserable and make them abandon and leave.
The population consists of mostly shepherds who peacefully seek to cultivate the land and graze their sheep, whom the settlers treat as a dangerous enemy. They prohibit them from any movement related to herding sheep and cultivating the land and harm everything: trampling crops, breaking olive trees, smuggling herds, scaring shepherds, conducting wild searches of houses, shouting, cursing and threatening - at all hours of the day. "We are Besieged, but will not move from our land," says Lila G. New settlements are springing up around them. At first it's a bus or a truck that turns into residential buildings, on top of which every week more residential buildings and animal sheds are added. With the open encouragement of the current government, Jewish terrorism is raising its head, with authority and permission. The settlers have received army uniforms and weapons, and no one is stopping them. The police, who are supposed to protect the Palestinians from the settlers' riots, sometimes respond to calls for help, but in practice they don't do much more than provide them with a report, and they are required to go and file a complaint in Kiryat Arba Settlemnt police station . Though the settlers' identities are known, they are !never arrested.
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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
A Palestinian residentJul-6-2026Sha'ab al-Butum - Muhannad and Fadel Jabarin arrested after settler attack on their home
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