South Hebron Hills, Susiya, Tarqumiya

Place:

South Hebron Hills

Susiya

Tarqumiya

Observers:

Michal (reporting and photographing)

Leave this field blank

Nov-16-2021

Morning

Children's playground in Susiya

Photo:

Michal Tsadik

We drove through the Tarkumiya checkpoint because I had to hand over to someone I had collected from the Be'er Sheva prison a few days earlier. (After a prisoner has completed his sentence the police often do not return his personal belongings to him which usually includes the ID and his phone.)

After delivering the documents, etc, we passed the industrial area of Idna. Suddenly we saw security forces out in full force in the large area where goods are being loaded . It turns out that someone had expanded the space allowed for truck parking. Our forces came to destroy this effort.

We then drove to Susiya to see up close how a children’s playground so endangers the settlers. We were happy to see that the playground still stands and continues to make the children happy.

We saw a group of young Israeli volunteers there. Wadha says they have been living there for about a year and there is a turnover but there are always 5-6 who are with them all the time. Their presence is important and helpful. Glad there are also young people who really care, and we are not alone

I could not help but photographed Wadha with her smile which always lights up the entrance to her "home." This woman can teach how to build a home. In the nothingness that grows from her "green" fingers are beautiful potted plants, herbs, and vegetables. It is always a pleasure to sit near her "home." Not to mention the special pita she baked this morning and with hyssop olive oil and stone it is always a pleasure.

On the way back: The breach in the fence near the Meitar checkpoint had not been mended yet . All can see how easy it is for those wishing to earn a livelihood continue to arrive. These are the people who are considered by our forces a security risk and who are constantly detained as endangering the security of the state. And then they are simply let go after a few hours.

Location Description

Tarqumiya

See all reports for this place

The Tarqumiya Checkpoint is one of the largest and busiest checkpoints where people and goods cross into Israel. It is located on the Separation Barrier close to the Green Line, on Road 35 (connecting Beer Sheva and Hebron). It is run by the Israel Defense Ministry’s Crossings Administration with civilian secuirty companies running the day to day operations. The checkpoint is indeed open to vehicles in both directions 24/7, but Palestinians are prevented from crossing in vehicles, except in special cases.

MachsomWatch activists visit the checkpoint as it opens at 3:45 am, in order to observe the daily passage of nearly 10,000 Palestinian workers. The workers arrive from throughout the Southern West Bank. Our activists report on the tremendous overcrowding at this checkpoint; they have observed young men climbing and scrambling on the fences and roofs of the ‘access cages’. This is how the work day begins for those who ‘build the land of Israel’.

updated November 2019

Yata / Southern Hebron hills

See all reports for this place

Yatta is a city located in the South Hebron Hills region. It is located in the border zone between the fertile area of Hebron and its surroundings and the desert of the Hebron Hills. Yatta has about 64,000 inhabitants. The surrounding villages are called Masafar 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, a number of 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 the withholding of 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. Road blocks 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

May-2-2024

Raya Yeor

Al-Fawwar - crossing the fields

View the full album

Susiya

See all reports for this place

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.