South Hebron Hills, Simia

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Observers: 
Vivi Konforty and Ariela Slonim (photographing), Michal Tzadik (reporting); Translator: Natanya
Dec-11-2018
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Morning

We drove to Simia,

  A small village on Route 60 on the other side of the road from the town of Samua.

Two weeks ago, the villagers (who are also active in the "Combatants for Peace") decided to establish on their own a school for the 30 small children in the village, who risk every morning crossing this busy road to the school in Samua.

After two children were injured on the road in recent months and their requests for a permit were not answered, they did so themselves. Immediately, the security forces and the civiil administration  arrived and destroyed everything and confiscated  cars: "Here is the Land of Israel and you are forbidden to build anything here," an IDF officer told them.

K. Tells us in fluent Hebrew the story of the last weeks (https://youtu.be/1BZqGQJiS7U) שs of yesterday:

The school is held in two small tents, tables and chalk, chairs and some teachers are trying to teach them. On the blackboard the teacher writes the meaning of the word meaning "dafke” (in spite). She draws a map and a flag and the children write. The tents are dismantled by the residents at the end of the school day and are rebuilt in the morning.

The IDF patrols early in the morning or at night to prevent them rebuilding.

The people are determined to build the school. The speaker has spoken fluently about their desire for peace and a life of mutual respect. "Little children who meet the Israelis as destroyers, what adults they will grow up to be"? He asks.

We also ask.

We promised to be in constant contact with them.

And I remember the verse from the Haggadah : "When they torture him, he will multiply and break out ..." And ... Nevertheless, despite everything ".....

Then we went to Hursa.

There, as we know, Israel  built in the heart of the village a pillbox and  a checkpoint to monitor the road to Negohot. In the vicinity of the village next to the village's Divan, a military compound has been established, and sometimes flying checkpoints are erected. Everyone is checked  and this creates traffic jams and harms the fabric of life of thousands of people in order to protect a few dozen settlers.

"They make life miserable for us day and night and we do not understand why," they tell us. Feelings of shame and despair fill us at the end of the shift.

That is how we end are shift….that is what we feel.

The school before the demolition
שתי נשים וגבק מתבוננים בהריסות