Susiya - afraid of the settlers' Molotov cocktails, people sleep under the open sky

Place:

Meitar checkpoint / Sansana

South Hebron Hills

Susiya

Zanuta

Tags:

Children

retrieve

Settler-colonists injure Palestinians body, soul and property

Swords of Iron War

Observers:

Daphna Y. (reporting), Muhammad (driving and translating) and A guest (photographing). Translating: Natanya

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Sep-4-2024

Morning

This was the school in Zanuta

Photo:

A guest of MW

Zanuta - Daphna in a classroom

Photo:

A guest of MW

Meitar, the checkpoint, is as usual. Many trucks enter, but the parking lot is still quite deserted. Since the beginning of the war no workers enter Israel.

People have no work, no livelihood and the pressure is increasing!

Traffic is heavy on Route 60.

We passed by Zanuta, the village whose residents were deported and a few weeks ago, with the approval of a court, they returned to the village. In the meantime, only the men returned, because it is unfit for habitation, due to the enormous destruction that was done to it.

You see in the village area large herds that have returned to the village, and also some cows, belonging to the settlers, grazing in one of the plots belonging to the Palestinians. (Cows are more harmful to agricultural areas).

We moved to road 317, and along the way we saw new closures of dirt roads, from the main road. All these, so that they would have to make a big detour to reach the city.

We arrived in Susiya, to Wadha. Azzam went shopping. She had her cute daughter and grandchildren with her. She said that settlers came again with sheep, to make trouble. They called the police, which arrived this time and expelled the settlers. They come almost every day, even in the middle of the night, whenever they want, stealing materials. From Wadha's neighbour they stole a donkey.

The situation is worse since the beginning of the war, and the settlers allow themselves to enter the village and the houses, with weapons, some with uniforms, making a mess and intimidating... and the police do not come every time they are called.

A few days ago, Border Policemen walked around the village, entered houses and searched. Not sure what they were looking for...

The women, for lack of choice, are sometimes alone at home, and are very afraid of the settlers' violence, and they are not sure where and when it will happen.

We continued to visit Ahmad, also in Susiya.

Since they threw a Molotov cocktail into their house, which fortunately did not ignite, they sleep outside, inside a cart...He also does not take sheep out to pasture, because the settlers come and scare the pregnant sheep and they may miscarry.

He used to have a lot of sheep and now only about 30. Since they don't go out to pasture, you have to buy food for them and it's very expensive...

Many talk about selling sheep, both because of the high cost of keeping them and also because there is no work and no livelihood and selling them is a source of income.

There were 2 girls in the house (elementary school age). On 9.9 they start the school year, but only two days a week. The teachers are on a kind of strike since last year, because of not receiving their salaries.

Location Description

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

Jan-7-2025

A Palestinian resident

Qawawis - Khaled is wounded in the head

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Susiya

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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.

Meitar Checkpoint / Sansana

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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

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 info-icon 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.