A-Tuwani - boulders at the entrance to the village

Place:

A-Tuwani

South Hebron Hills

Zif Junction

Observers:

Nurit Badash (reporting) and Muhammad; Translator: Natanya

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Aug-14-2022

Morning

A-Tuwani - with Nasser Adara

Photo:

Nurit Badash

A-Tuwani: We met with Nasser Adara at his mother's house. There were 2 topics which were very important to him and he wished to update us and to bring them to our attention.

New boulders were placed at the entrance to A-Tuwani on both sides of the road, and also opposite on the dirt road in the direction of Yatta. There is concern that the next step may be to place a barrier right at the entrance to the village. The owner of the area filed a complaint, a fact that stopped the operations in the area for a while. After about a month and a half of neglect and lack of attention to the requests by the DCL, lawyers began to handle and for now, the activity has stopped.

Yesterday, on Saturday - 6 settlers came down with dogs from the outpost Havat Ma'on, reached the edge of the village, the house closest to the grove. The population followed what was happening and stayed at home. The people who were inside the house that the settlers and their dogs approached, took pictures of everything. There were also internationals among them. The settlers continued to harass them as they headed towards the plots. The internationals accompanied them all the time and documented what was happening. When they returned, they reached a relatively low area where a family was working in the field. The settlers again began to harass them and tease them with their dogs. When the locals demanded that they vacate the place because it was their land, the settlers turned to the army. When the military forces arrived, they shouted and demanded from the locals to vacate the place and escorted them with shouts and pushed them to their house inside the village.

In fact - once again, they were evicted from their territory, in order to avoid a bigger conflict.

Zif junction - open and looks normal.

*** While we were on patrol, Nasser was informed that demolition orders were being handed out at "Shu’b alButum". Nasser Nawaj’a – documented.

Location Description

Zif Junction

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Connects to Road 356 to Yata - the district city of the southern Hebron Mountains. Usually open to traffic and the nearby pillbox is unmanned. But the army and police are present from time to time, sometimes setting up a checkpoint and sometimes detaining residents of the big city. Sometimes the Israeli police inspects vehicles and distribute driving reports to Palestinian vehicles..

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

Apr-10-2024

Muhammad D.

Sa'ir - Yael and Ahmad

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At-Tuwani

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The locals came to At-Tuwani during the 20th century from the village of Yatta. They settled in abandoned ruins, utilizing the arable land, pastures for grazing sheep and the abundance of natural caves for habitation. The residents who settled in the caves came from families who could not purchase land for houses in the mother villages, as well as shepherds who did not have enough land to graze. They were joined by clan members who quarreled with other families in the mother locality.
Some of the residents today live in concrete buildings built above the caves. In the area of the village are several water cisterns and an ancient water well called Ein at-Tuwani. Local residents are forced to buy water in containers and transport them through many road blocks to the village. With the help of international organizations, an electrical system was installed in the village. In the late 90s of the 20th century, an elementary school was established in the serving several small villages in the area.
In 2004, MachsomWatch began visiting and reporting from the Khirbet Tuwani cave village, which suffers badly from the settlers of nearby outposts, and especially from the extremist Ma'on outpost. . The settlers contaminate cisterns, poison the flocks and uproot trees.

Particularly notable is the harassment of children from the surrounding villages on their way to school in at-Tuwani, so much so that military escort of children is required to separate them from the attackers (this was arranged following an initiative of the organization's members). In the past year, the escort has been without the vital presence of overseas volunteers.

Near at-Tuwani there are several families who have returned to the caves due to the incessant demolitions of the civil administration info-icon (as there is a total construction ban in all of area C). Destroyed are not only residential and agricultural buildings, but also water pipes, machinery. Even water cisterns are clogged up. at-Tuwani residents have created an association for non-violent demolition protests, but in the past year the army’s harsh harassment and settler violence have intensified and escalated. The incident of the small generator confiscation, which left a young man paralyzed, is one of many examples - any legitimate protection of property rights leads to violence and even shootings by the army and the civil administration.

Updated April 2022

Apr-10-2024

Muhammad D.

Sa'ir - Yael and Ahmad

View the full album