Susiya - sleeping in a cart, afraid of being hurt. That way they hear everyone who approaches

Place:

South Hebron Hills

Susiya

Zanuta

Tags:

retrieve

Swords of Iron War

Observers:

Daphna Y. (reporting) and Muhammad D. (driving and photographing). Translator: Natanya

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Sep-26-2024

Morning

התצפית החדשה על הגבעה (317), שתושביה גורשו

The new observation on the hill whose inhabitants were expelled

Photo:

Muhammad D.

Susiya - The cart on which the family sleeps at night

Photo:

Muhammad D.

Susiya - the girls and the bikes we brought

Photo:

Muhammad D.

The parking lots at the checkpoint are still almost empty. Very few cars of those authorized to cross into Israel. A year has passed, and the Palestinians are still not allowed to work!!!

Facing road 317, there is an industrial area, not large, Meitarim. The Palestinian cars have multiplied there in the parking lot. It turns out that they are employed more and more in this area and in similar industrial areas.

Later in Route 317, on the hill of Maktal Umm Salem, from where the family of Amar Abu Awwad was expelled/fled from fear of the settlers, an observation post has been set up, trees planted and, of course, the Israeli flag.

We passed by Zanuta, which was abandoned again, due to the harassment of the settlers, and arrived at the home of Ahmad and Umm Sarah, who live in Susiya. The girls were there too, because the school has a new arrangement, they study only 4 days.

There are also 2 female volunteers (from Italy and Germany) who sleep with them, for protection!

They are still sleeping in the cart; afraid they will be hurt. That's how they can hear everyone who approaches... (When winter comes, they will be forced to go inside and sleep indoors)

A few days ago, Ahmad was in a plot near the water tower. A bulldozer passed with military personnel. Ahmad thought they wanted to destroy something and went over to see. In response, they started shooting at him and he got scared and ran away. They chased him and he ran to the school. At 3 in the morning, they came looking for him, but he was not at home. They told his wife to bring him, otherwise they would take her!!! She explained to them that he had run away from them, because he was scared of them and because they were shooting and not because he had done anything ....

She said that she didn't know why he was, and after about an hour they left.

In addition, Shem Tov from ancient Susiya and his family came to "visit" them. They came, drove around the area, made a noise, scared and they left (so far, they have not harmed the Palestinians).

The economic situation is difficult, there is no work. He is also prevented from going to Israel to work (after an incident with settlers in 2005). We brought him a bicycle, so that he could get around more easily.

This month, Ahmad started harvesting olives. He has an orchard, near the ancient Susiya. They hope they will be allowed to get there as this is harvest time.

Days will tell...

In any case, they are going through very difficult days!!!

Location Description

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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Susiya

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Susiya

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.

Zanuta

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Zanuta was a small rural Palestinian locality until its demolition. It was situated in the space around the town Dahariya in the South Hebron Hills, about a ten-minute ride from Meitar Checkpoint. There are documented remains of a large Byzantine settlement in the area. Since the Ottoman (Turkish Empire) period (1516-1917) Zanuta was documented as a locality of shepherds and farmers who live in the remains of the ancient structures and the residential caves near them.

Two individual ranches of colonists were created next to Zanuta: Meitarim (of the colonist Yinon Levi) to the east, and Yehudah (of the colonist Elyashiv Nachum) to the north. Endless attacks, harassments and attempt to chase away the Zanuta villagers have originated in these two outposts.

Until the expulsion, four families lived in the village: A-Samama, Al-Tel, Al Batat, and Al-Qaisia. Farming constituted their main economic activity and employed most of the villagers. The total area of the village is about 12,000 dunams, of which about 3,000 are tended, mostly with field crops.

This village has never had a master plan that would legitimize construction permits. The Civil Administration info-icon claimed it was too small and the distance to the next town, Dahariya, too great. For this reason, the Israeli authorities pressured the villagers to leave. The colonists did the job for them.