All checkpoints are closed on Route 35

Place:

South Hebron Hills

Tarqumiya CP

Tags:

retrieve

Swords of Iron War

Observers:

Raya Y. Translator: Natanya

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Sep-25-2024

Morning

Ahmad whom we met at the Shuyukh-Hebron crossing

Photo:

A guest of MW

The supplies we delivered to Yusri from Hebron

Photo:

A guest of MW

Tarkumiya checkpoint is empty of people and cars, on the face of it it seems that life in the area has been greatly reduced to an existential minimum.

All checkpoints are closed on Route 35.

At the Shuyukh-Hebron intersection we met Ahmad to whom we gave the money that his friend, Yael, had transferred to him.

We continued to Yusri Jaber who lives below Kiryat Arba at the entrance to Hebron. We received NIS 400 from Michal to buy basic groceries.

Congratulations to Yusri, he had a son.

Location Description

Tarqumiya CP

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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

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

קוואוויס - עם ג'בארין וטאלב המספרים לנו מה עבר עליהם

Nov-24-2024

Muhammad D.

Qawawis - with Jabarin and Taleb telling us what they went through

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