South Hebron Hills - The villagers themselves are not allowed to cultivate and take care of their land

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Observers: 
Muhamad (Driver, photos), Dafna (Reporting, with Gajgoj (Guest) Translation: Bracha Ben-Avraham
Apr-8-2024
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Morning

It is two days before the Muslim holiday Eid al Fitr, the end of the fast month of Ramadan. The drive to the Meitar Checkpoint took a half hour instead of the usual five minutes.  Many people were driving to Hebron and Dhahiriya to buy food and clothes for the holiday.   The passage through the checkpoint is fast, the parking lots in the checkpoint area are still empty because workers have not been allowed to enter Israel since the beginning of the war!

We drove to Route 317 and at the Shani Livne junction, opposite the pillbox, we saw two ATVs with settlers in uniform (?) with face coverings, and two Palestinian farmers with blindfolds. It seems that they worked in the field and collected hay. It is not clear whether their mere work in the field or their proximity to Pillbox caused their arrest. It was a difficult sight to see.

We continued on to A-Tuwani to visit Nasser Edra.  He told us that there is constant disorder.  A settler from the Maon Farm on the nearby hill comes on horseback with his herd of cows to graze.  When they call the police the settler quickly leaves before the police arrive.  When the police return he comes back again.

The villagers are not permitted to drive outside the villages to tend their fields or to take their flocks out to graze.  A week ago some of the villagers went out to work their fields that are located within the village near the entrance. The settlers called the army and soldiers arrived, sent the men home, and arrested two women. They were taken to the police station in Kiryat Arba and were not released until the evening.  Such events occur almost every day.  

During the night the army conducts patrols within the village, but they no longer make a disturbance as they did at the beginning of the war.

 The checkpoint at Yata and the village of Carmel, which is located opposite the entrance to A-Tuwani  is often closed and vehicles cannot pass.  The residents are forced to drive around and take a much longer route, which is time consuming and tiring.  This is obviously the objective.

Since the war began we see more and more concrete guard posts with soldiers throughout the area around the Jewish settlements.   At Khalet al-Maiyya there was also a gate being built that could be shut to block the entrance to Yata.  This is in addition to all the other entrances that are already closed.  

We could see the numerous blockades at the various roads all along the way built from boulders, concrete blocks, or gatesinfo-icon.   This makes people’s lives even more difficult than they are already.