South Mount Hebron: Settlers and the army are abusing Palestinians

Meitar checkpoint: As usual, there’s hardly a car or a person to be seen. Since the start of the war, Palestinians have not been permitted to enter Israel.

We drove along Route 69 towards Simya. On the way, we saw settlements and outposts that are growing and developing. There are new buildings in Havat Yehuda. They’ve built a new road around the settlement of Shim’a. We see additional new buildings. In the settlement of Eshtemoa, there’s an extension and we see bulldozers working there.

The entrance to Samoa is open to traffic.

The entrance to Simya is closed/blocked by the army, but has been opened by the residents because there’s no other entrance to the village.

We came to Farhan’s house. They’re building a beautiful, spacious house for his son on the family’s land, some way away from the entrance. They hope that because it’s inside the village, it won’t be destroyed. We met Farhan and his son, who also works at the school, where the school year has just begun.

The school has around 30 children of elementary school age. The cuties are right on the break for food, sitting in a circle in the yard, on the grass, playing and eating. The teachers’ salaries have been cut between 50% and 70% because there’s no money for salaries. At the same time, prices have gone up. Farhan’s daughter is studying cosmetics in Hebron. The studies are very expensive, but perhaps this will give her a living. Farhan tells us that about a week ago, the army closed the entrance to the village with piles of earth and rocks. During the night, the Palestinians brought a bulldozer and worked throughout the night to open the entrance. As soon as they’d finished, the army arrived; the young men who had been working fled and hid and the army searched for them without success.

About a month ago a search was conducted in Farhan’s house. At 6:00 a.m., two soldiers and two settlers (with kippot) in jeeps conducted the search. They checked cars and broke windows and one of the soldiers told Farhan to bring a knife from the kitchen! “Bring a knife and I’ll shoot you in the head” … Farhan refused.

They took everyone outside. They put a gun to the head of the daughter who asked what they were looking for. An officer was waiting outside and Farhan asked him when they’d be finished because it was cold outside.

When it was over, they put sand into the car’s oil tank and left. The same searched was carried out and the same damage done to other villagers.

When the army doesn’t have a tractor to block entrances, they ask the villagers to bring their vehicles and block the way, and then they take the keys and leave the car blocking the way and stuck there.