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Sansana (Meitar Crossing), South Hebron Hills, Susiya

Observers: Raya Yeor, (reporting); Translator: Natanya
Mar-01-2018
| Morning

The Meitar checkpoint is empty. Because of  Purim no one is going in and no one is going out.

In Susiya, Azzam and Nasser reported:

In 2012 The  Regavim organization filed a petition against Susiya – that it is an illegal  outpost.

Following Regavim’s request, the state’s demolition orders were distributed to the school, water cisterns, residential homes and everything that was built.

Susiya’s lawyer appealed to the Supreme Court against the demolition orders and the court issued an interim injunction that the state is forbidden to demolish and there must be no building.

The village leaders were asked to prepare a plan for Palestinian Susya, which cost $ 50,000 and was submitted to the Beit El Planning and Building Committee.

It should be noted that the committee only includes settlers and the army and the Palestinians have no representation.

The committee rejected the outline plan on the grounds that the level of school in Susiya is low and in Yatta there are better options for children.

A Susiya lawyer refused and has appealed to the Supreme Court.

In winter 2014 stormy weather stormed the village and destroyed 10 buildings, the houses of villagers and all their families.

The houses / tents were renovated by local residents and the head  of the Regavim organization documented the renovation and went to court, claiming that the Palestinians do not respect the court’s decision and the building / renovation of the houses should be demolished.

The court agreed with the photographs of Regavim and asked the state to decide what as to be done about the renovation of the houses / tents of Susiya.

The state offered to negotiate concerning the construction in Susiya and proposed transferring the village to an alternative location, 5 kilometers from Susiya, next to Yatta.

The villagers did not agree for the very moral reason that they would be stealing land belonging to other Palestinian residents to whom the land belongs. Their families are known to Susiya residents and they have permits from the days of the Turks that they own the land.

Avigdor Lieberman,  the  defense minister, stopped the negotiations and decided to destroy Susiya.

The treatment of Susiya has now been transferred to the Prime Minister’s Office.

Two months ago, the Prime Minister’s Office announced that 20% of the village would be demolished: Houses / tents including a clinic.

A week after this decision, 20 additional buildings, including the school, were added to the order.

At the moment, the court has decided to demolish 7 buildings with 42 residents, including 18 children.

The villagers live in a constant state of anxiety and pressure.

  • Meitar checkpoint / Sansana

    See all reports for this place
    • Meitar Checkpoint / Sansana The checkpoint is located on the Green Line and serves as a border crossing between Israel and the West Bank. It is managed by the  Border Crossing Authority of the Defense Ministry. It is comprised of sections for the transfer of goods as well as a vehicle checkpoint (intended for holders of blue identity cards, foreign nationals or diplomats and international organizations). Passing of Palestinians is prohibited, except for those with entry permits to Israel. Palestinians  are permitted to cross on foot only. The crossing  has a DCO / DCL / DCL / DCL (District Coordination  Office), a customs unit, supervision, and a police unit. In the last year, a breach has been opened  in the fence, not far from the crossing. This breach is known to all, including the army. There does not appear to be any interest in blocking it, probably as it permits needed Palestinian workers without the bureaucratic permits to get to work in Israel. Food stalls and a parking area economy have been created, but incidents of violent abuse by border police have also been recorded. Updated April 2022
  • South Hebron Hills

    See all reports for this place
    • 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

       

       

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  • Susiya

    See all reports for this place
    • Susiya The Palestinian area lies between the settlement of Susya and a military base. The residents began to settle in areas outside the villages in the 1830s and lived in caves, tents and sukkot. To this day they maintain a traditional lifestyle and their livelihood is based on agriculture and herding. Until the 1948 war, the farmers cultivated areas that extended to the Arad area. As a result of the war, a significant portion of their land left on the Israeli side was lost. After the 1967 war and the Israeli occupation, military camps were established in the area, fire zones and nature reserves were declared, and the land area was further reduced. The Jewish settlement in Susya began in 1979. Since then, there has been a stubborn struggle to remove the remains of Palestinian residents who refuse to leave their place of birth and move to nearby  town Yatta. With the development of a tourist site in Khirbet Susya in the late 1980s (an ancient synagogue), dozens of families living in caves in its vicinity were deported. In the second half of the 1990s, a new form of settlement developed in the area - shepherds' farms of individual settlers. This phenomenon increased the tension between the settlers and the original, Palestinian residents, and led to repeated harassment of the residents of the farms towards the Palestinians. At the same time, demolition of buildings and crop destruction by security forces continued, as well as water and electricity prevention. In the Palestinian Susya, as in a large part of the villages of the southern Hebron Mountains, there is no running water, but the water pipe that supplies water to the Susya Jewish settlement passes through it. Palestinians have to buy expensive water that comes in tankers. Solar electricity is provided by a collector system, installed with donation funds. But the frequent demolitions in the villages do not spare water cisterns or the solar panels and power poles designed to transfer solar electricity between the villages. Updated April 2021, Anat T.  
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