A new settler farm near Susiya

Place:

South Hebron Hills

Susiya

Observers:

Michal (reporting) and Muhammad (photographing); Translator: Natanya

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Sep-19-2023

Morning

Susiya - Nasser Nawaj'ah and Michal

Photo:

Muhammad D

Report of shift, South Hebron Mountains

21.9.2023

Michal (reporting) and Muhammad (photographing); Translator: Natanya

We went to Susiya to hear reports from Nasser Nawaj’ah about what is happening and to congratulate him on winning a prize for his activity in the non-violent resistance to the occupation.

I congratulated him on behalf of all of us and expressed our joy at his victory. Nasser was happy and thanked everyone very much and emphasized that the appreciation for his efforts is more important to him than the amount of money he will receive. He could not come to the ceremony which was in Tel Aviv because he forbidden entry to Israel.

Nassar says that lately there are a lot of new settlements in the form of individual farms in the Susiya area. In Tawamin, east of Susiya, behind the Jewish cemetery, the settlers cut a 3 meter fence and put the sheep in the garden. There 120 trees were destroyed by the settlers' goats and sheep.

800 meters south of that place that Nasser called Umm Al Hawass, settlers invaded a Palestinian’s farm which was empty because the Palestinians do not live there permanently. The settlers built tents next to the house and they graze their sheep there.

We could see from his house, on the ridge in question, a bulldozer was working. Nasser said that the land is being prepared there for a settlement. Then Nasser went to Abu Safi and his neighbour, Omar, to install cameras which would make it easier for them to document the abuse of the settlers which we have been reporting all the time in recent months.

And we went ask after his pleasant neighbours, Azzam and Wadha. Azam works in Israel but injured his hand and was at home.

Since Muhammad had a headache which got worse as time went on, we shortened the shift and did not go as planned to Sha'b al Butum, and returned home.

The roads were empty of military vehicles and the checkpoint police were functioning as usual and everything seemed to be quiet.

"The sun rose, the tree flourished and the butcher slaughtered."

Location Description

Yata / Southern Hebron hills

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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

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Susiya

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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.