April 23 2024: A. of Tuba Moving Heaven and Earth to provide Children with School Education

The villages where the children reside are marked with crimson rectangles. A-Tuwani where their school is located, is marked with a green rectangle.  A larger map of Massafer Yatta can be found here. To see the broader surroundings around Massafer Yatta, go to B’Tselem’s interactive map and zoom towards the very south of the West Bank.

To our friends all,

For seven months now, the children of Tuba and Maghayir al-‘Abeed in Massafer Yatta have very rarely gone to school. Their school is located in in a-Tuwani some 1.5-2 km away, but in the middle there are hostile and violent Israeli settlements.

In 2004, when harassment of these children increased, and under the pressure of peace organizations, a ruling was formulated by the Knesset Committee on Education, that the children would go to school and back, accompanied by the army. In this manner, for nearly 20 years, until war broke out, children walked to their schools accompanied by the military.

At the outbreak of the present war, the army’s accompaniment ceased without any warning, nor any information about its renewal. At the same time, studied ceased for a while all across the West Bank [and most of Israel]. Several weeks later, studies in a-Tuwani were resumed in a partial pattern, 2-3 days a week. (Israel stopped handing over the money it owes routinely to the Palestinian Authority, so teachers’ salaries were reduced up to one-third). The children of a-Tuwani and Susya who go to school at a-Tuwani came back to study part-time, but the children of Tuba and Maghayir al-‘Abeed could not.

Around December dear A., an organizer from Tuba, began to transport the children in his car (the only highway-legal vehicle in his village) assisted by activists’ vehicles, taking a longer, harder roundabout route. But he had to stop because the Palestinian Ministry of Education at Yatta forbade him, fearing that the army would rid itself permanently of its accompaniment assignment. Via the spokesperson for the Israeli military’s Central Command, I found out that as of now, the army will not resume this duty. I forwarded this information to A., who forwarded it to the Ministry office at Yatta. The head of that office continued to insist, on the ban, because this would be grounds for the army not to return. In the meantime, I try to convince the children of these two villages to study in two alternate schools deeper into Massafer Yatta and away from settlements: the high school at Fakhit and the elementary school at Safai, a walking distance away. Middle-schoolers and high-schoolers would also walk to Safai, and from there a vehicle provided by the PA would take them to Fakhit.

But the high school children do not want to change schools, whereas the elementary school children are not allowed by their parents to walk to Safai, for fear that the settlers would find them on the way there too. The head of the Palestinian Education Ministry at Yatta still refused to let A. transport the children to a-Tuwani, even only the middle-schoolers and high-schoolers , five of them all in all.

Children in Tuba, April 16

H., our close friend from Hebron, knows the regional head of the education department personally, and arranges a meeting in order to convince him to be flexible, because the army will not return to its accompaniment duties in the foreseeable future. After this meeting, H. reports to me that the refusal is still in full force. I advise H. to try again, insisting that according to international law, every child has the right to go to school. H. gets back to the department head, and he finally agrees.

A. receives the happy news from me that very evening. The children are excited. The next day, A. cannot drive them – he is the only driver with a highway-legal car in the village, and a critical patient must get to the hospital. A. shares with me the fact that he would not be able to take the children consistently. One time someone is ill, another time he must drive residents to lodge a complaint (all this time, settlers harass the villagers of Tuba and Maghayir al-‘Abeed), and in general – since the children study only 2-3 days a week…

I feel that I’m becoming a nag, having pressured poor A. over the school issue again and again, and finally, during our umpteenth nightly call, I let go. I understand the pressure under which young A. has to function, and say to him: “My dear man, I realize your situation. You bear a disproportionate amount of responsibility. I am only sorry for the children. They want so much to get back to school and see those classmates who have already come back. But let us let go and pray that the next school year will bring a new reality, Inshallah.” The next day, A. called me: “I am taking the children to school. True, children must go to school. I’ll do my best.”

On the morning of Sunday, April 21st, three girls and two boys festively prepare their school outfit and rise on , to reach the school which they have missed for 4 months. A call from A. stops them before leaving: the Israeli army killed 10 Palestinians in Tulkarem. A general strike has been declared throughout the West Bank.

In the evening, the children prepare their clothes again, and get up excited the next morning to go to school. On Monday morning a call from A. holds them back again: the Jews’ Passover holiday has caused the army to close off all passage to and from Yatta, and the teachers cannot get to school.

In the evening, with the determination of children refusing to give in, they prepare their clothes again. Perhaps tomorrow? In the morning they are excited again. At noon on Tuesday the 23rd, I met them at a-Tuwani. They finished a day of school. A. Waited for them at the center of the village in order to bring them home. In fact it was another day of total closure [due to Passover], but A. who spoke with the teachers in the morning said the teachers recommended they begin to walk and he would pick them up on their way to school, and so he did. A. the wizard.

And I – when I saw the children and their happy smiles and enjoyed their warm hugs, I was flooded with their deep gratitude flowing to me, to A., to the world; although they have so little, it seems to them that the whole world is theirs, and seeing this I need no further words…

Erella, on behalf of the Villages Group

April 15 2024: West-Bank-Wide Settler/Military Assault Reaches Massafer Yatta

To see the broader surroundings around Massafer Yatta, go to B’Tselem’s interactive map and zoom towards the very south of the West Bank.

Editor’s note: on Friday April 12th, a youth from a settler outpost near Ramallah went missing. The next day he was found dead, presumably murdered. Settlers all across the West Bank went on a violent rampage starting the day of the disappearance, with the military more often aiding and abetting rather than do its legal duty and protect residents. The attacks are ongoing.

On Monday April 15th we began our day visiting our friend N. at Susiya, following videos he sent up in which settler boys are seen wandering among the village houses, swearing and spitting in the faces of villagers.

N. told us: “On Saturday (April 13th), several boys came up with cattle and goats belonging to settler A.P to our private, fenced-in grazing ground, which they are forbidden to enter by edict of the regional army commander. We summoned police, but when the policeman came, everyone escaped except for a 12-year-old who remained with the flock. It’s their usual pattern, to send minors with the animals. The policeman caught him and told me he spoke with his mother. I said to him – perhaps you should speak with the owner of the flock?

“On Saturday night, at 4 a.m., the Sussya settlement’s “emergency squad” passed among our houses, banged on doors and windows, and yelled at us to stay indoors. Why? To intimidate us and sow mayhem.”

“Today the boys came again, entered the village and threw stones. A. went out to them and asked ‘Why?’ One of them took out a dagger in reply, saying ‘Want to die?’ They continued wandering among the houses, provoking villagers, throwing chairs and spitting at elderly people. R., A.’s wife, came out to them and they kicked her hard.”

“That whole time, Sussya settlement’s “emergency squad” stood on the road watching over them. Settler Sh.T stood on the other side with his horse and another settler beside him on a motorcycle. All waited for us to react ,so they could leap at us. They saw the boys kicking the elderly woman right there, and did nothing.”

We continued from there to visit the family of Sh., our friend from Maghayir al-‘Abeed. Their village is isolated and small, containing only a single family – Sh. who lives with his wife, son, and two young daughters in the bottom cave, and his elderly mother who lives up the hill with her unmarried daughter. As in other isolated areas, the settlers have targeted Sh.’s family, and harass them daily in order to make them desperate and chase them out.

A settler grazing his flock on Palestinian fields at Maghayir Al-Abeed

We came to hear about the event on Saturday, April 13th, when crowds of settlers came up to his home from all directions. After hearing Sh.’s cries for help on the phone, we notified the army but, as usual, the soldiers who arrived were busy protecting the assailants rather than their victims.
We tried to call up volunteers to stay in the area as a protective presence [or at least as witnesses] – but Israelis were needed elsewhere, and internationals were afraid to come after several of them had been arrested and deported lately. This too is a part of the new policy – arrest activists on false charges, deport them, or simple distance them from the area.

Finally, Noam came, an Israeli friend who lives relatively close by, (this is where we remind our readers that all these horrors are taking place less than an hour away from the Meitar Crossing into Israel). Noam was attacked by the violent settler I.B, known to us from previous attacks. Noam asked the policeman to protect him, but the policeman ignored him and walked away. Noam tried to appeal to the army officer, who in turn beat him up with his weapon and detained him.

At the beginning of the attack, the family members escaped to the nearby village, situated on a steep hill. During our visit there two days later, everyone was still very upset and scared. We asked how the elderly, sickly mother who had already been beaten up by soldiers in the past managed to climb the hill. “Fear gave her energy”, her son answered. “We held her on each side and that’s how she climbed.”

When we climbed to the mother’s home, she said there was no more point to living. She begged to send someone to be with them at night, as she and her daughter cannot sleep.

While we were still there, photos arrived from the nearby village of Tuba. On the previous day, violent settler Y. M who terrorizes the whole area came to their water hole with his flock, and watered it from the water hole that supplies the village with drinking water. With him came another settler on an ATV. They used their weapons to threaten anyone who tried to speak to them.

Children of Tuba in their playground

Today the settlers were back, erected a tent over the residents’ water hole, and raised an Israeli flag. B.T, another violent criminal whose notoriety has even reached the White house, joined them. Meaning: no more drinking water for Tuba’s children. We reported this to the division commander, and he played dumb: “This is a grazing tent, just like dozens of such Palestinian tents, and B.T is an officer commander on the ground.”

At 11 p.m. on Monday, our friends from the small village of Umm Durit (also known as Umm Barid) sent us photos of their vehicle being torched. The settlers have vandalized it several times in the past months. Lately the family had begun to restore it.

We sent the video to the army and asked for soldiers to be sent to protect the family – and this is what happened: the soldiers came masked, pointed guns, immediately gathered all the men of the family, seated them on the ground and began to interrogate them with curses and threats, as if they were suspects.

They called the Palestinians “liars”, blamed them for torching their own vehicle, took their IDs for inspection, and finally left without bothering to ask what had happened or to check the burning car. Naturally they did not enter the nearby outpost, whose inhabitants seem to be responsible for the torching.

A settler grazing his flock on Palestinian fields at Umm Durit

We turned to Central Regional Commander General Yehudah Fucks, and reminded him that the Israeli army is responsible for the welfare of all the inhabitants in the area, including the Palestinians. We have not heard from him yet.

Yair, on behalf of the Villages Group

Early Feb. 2024: Settlers Carve Unauthorized Road in Susiya through Private Palestinian Fields

Last week Villages Group activists visited both eastern (map below) and western (map further down) Massafer Yatta. A larger map of Massafer Yatta can be found here. To see the broader surroundings, go to B’Tselem’s interactive map and zoom towards the very south of the West Bank.

Dear friends,

Again, I sit in front of the empty computer screen, and have a hard time deciding what to tell you now. Every hour, every day, difficulties and crimes pile up even in Massafer Yatta, and there is no justice, no pay, we cannot even help, not to mention rescue.

Since the present war broke out, our permanent aid (helping with studies and professional courses) has been augmented with existential needs of a population now denied the possibility of making a living. We can still bring them pampers and milk powder for babies, basic food for families, medication and the like – thanks to your donations, dear friends! – but we cannot affect the trampling, power mongering settlers and the government’s policy (army, police, Civil Administration). These now multiply basic needs and our abilities diminish. Sometimes I think that even Sisyphus would give up…

What we do unconditionally is maintain a discourse in which our friends, and we, might find a source of strength.

Early this week we visited our friends in Taban. A. said that for a few days, settlers did not bring their flocks to graze in Taban’s farmland. “And now on Saturday again they came,” he continued. “Their large flock dined on the barley we had sown in our fields, and which had just begun to sprout.” A familiar pain between smarting insult and helplessness took over the room. Into this silence, I said: “You are brave people.” They asked me why I say this, and I answered it was because they manage to control themselves and not take revenge.  I googled and found the 2006 poem “Revenge” by Taha Muhammad Ali, and asked young F. to read it aloud in Arabic for those present:

At times … I wish
I could meet in a duel
the man who killed my father
and razed our home,
expelling me
into
a narrow country.
And if he killed me,
I’d rest at last,
and if I were ready—
I would take my revenge!

*

But if it came to light,
when my rival appeared,
that he had a mother
waiting for him,
or a father who’d put
his right hand over
the heart’s place in his chest
whenever his son was late
even by just a quarter-hour
for a meeting they’d set—
then I would not kill him,
even if I could.

*

Likewise … I
would not murder him
if it were soon made clear
that he had a brother or sisters
who loved him and constantly longed to see him.
Or if he had a wife to greet him
and children who
couldn’t bear his absence
and whom his gifts would thrill.
Or if he had
friends or companions,
neighbors he knew
or allies from prison
or a hospital room,
or classmates from his school …
asking about him
and sending him regards.

*

But if he turned
out to be on his own—
cut off like a branch from a tree—
without a mother or father,
with neither a brother nor sister,
wifeless, without a child,
and without kin or neighbors or friends,
colleagues or companions,
then I’d add not a thing to his pain
within that aloneness—
not the torment of death,
and not the sorrow of passing away.
Instead I’d be content
to ignore him when I passed him by
on the street—as I
convinced myself
that paying him no attention
in itself was a kind of revenge.

Nazareth, April 15, 2006 [ Translated by Peter Cole, Yahya Hijazi and Gabriel Levin ]

After this there were no more questions. Only the head nods, agreeing.

Later in the week we visited A. in the outskirts of Susiya. Settlers of Sussya settlement and its satellites have now been harassing A. and his aging parents daily (I wrote about him in past reports). Last Saturday, February 3, 2024, wildcat settler “road work” began, paving a track through his own farmland, the same land the settlers have prevented him from tending since the outbreak of the current war. They just brought a bulldozer and began carving the land. They work at night. As usual, there is no justice. No one to turn to. We sat in the morning sun with A. and his father, next to what would be a house when A. would be able to afford completing its construction. We saw the injustice with our own eyes.

So much sadness was in their eyes, and no rage. I heard myself telling A. what I had already said in Taban this week, and for the second time this week I was asked why I said this. I told A. the Taban story and gave him the same poem, printed out.

When he was done reading, he said: “We don’t think about revenge. We think about ways to stay on our land. We would gladly live in peace with our neighbors. But they do not want this.”

A. speaks very little, if ever. I never heard him utter so many words at once. Every word is golden and when I write them, they are etched in my heart.

I send them to you with much love.

Erella, On behalf of the Villages Group [translated by Tal Haran, except for the poem]

Upcoming Event, Feb. 17 in Berlin with Ehud of the Villages Group

Dear friends and supporters, 

Below is an introductory comment I wrote for the Villages Group’s presentation in Berlin due to take place next weekend (17.2). For details see the poster.

Ehud, on behalf of the Villages Group

The Villages Group is a small-scale group of volunteers that defies any national chauvinistic attitude and embraces the practice of a humanistic approach. Consequently, in the context of the Israel-Palestinian conflict, members of the group reject their categorization as either pro-Israeli or pro-Palestinian, considering themselves pro-human. The murderous actions taken by the extremist Hamas movement and the extremist Israeli government on the 7^th of October and its aftermath, presented in full the disastrous implications inherent in the national chauvinistic attitude. Facing this dire reality, the members of the Villages Group have intensified their long-term engagement with Palestinian Shepherd communities in the rural region of south Mt. Hebron in the West-Bank. In my presentation, I’ll try to explain what it means for us, in practice, to hold fast to the humanistic attitude, in times when the chauvinistic inhumane attitude reigns supreme.

Jan. 21-27: Umm Barid Family attempts to return Home, and Settlers Poison their Water Source

This week’s visits were to friends in north-central Massafer Yatta. A larger map of Massafer Yatta can be found here. To see the broader surroundings, go to B’Tselem’s interactive map and zoom towards the very south of the West Bank.

Dear friends,

Another week has gone by since our last report. Seasonal rains are falling almost on time, the wheat is growing again, and the list of the killed and wounded, the suffering people and the refugees has been growing longer and longer as though it too belongs to nature’s laws… Darkness is thicker now, and it’s hard to remember where light comes from into this world.

Emerging out of this darkness, we keep visiting our friends in Massafer Yatta. There’s not enough room on the page to write in detail the events that keep piling up even in a single hour, let alone a week. “The situation” boils down to thousands and thousands of events ,with names and addresses of real people who pay the price for others’ hatred and aggression. The lawless haters have names and addresses as well, but in these parts the “rule of law”, too, belongs to them, so they walk around caged in their ignorance and free to perpetrate anything their hateful heart desires.

The modest home of M. and his family from Umm Barid has already been demolished four times by settlers since the war started (See also our most recent report on this family and their home). This week the family completed renovating their home, the greenhouse, and the fruit tree grove for the fifth time. They are not allowed to tend their fields in the valley because of settlers’ rule. They plowed and sowed the field next to their home, and the wheat is growing again, and the settlers bring their flocks there to graze and destroy the wheat again. And still, this week the family returned home. During the first few nights two Israeli volunteers joined them, and the first three nights passed peacefully. We visited them later in the week. I brought them more mandalas to color, and taught them “Taki” (one of those table games… a variation on the American game of Uno). They say it helps them to relax a bit after their working hours in the field and at home.

During the night between Wednesday and Thursday, on January 25th, in fact exactly on Tu BiShvat, the Jewish New Year of Trees, settlers from the nearby outpost came and poured diesel and engine oil into the cistern above M.’s house, and ruined the water pump engine.

We were there the next day. Outside the wind blew wild and it was very cold. We sat with them around the ‘Soba’ (fireplace), L. made food, her daughters-in-law helped, one son who had kept night-watch duty was sleeping, and M. and the rest of his sons sat with us. There was this kind of silence filled with mutual attentiveness, and I – still trying to control my anger – asked M. again: “Where do you get your powers from, where do you hide your rage?” M. hears me out, and in the most natural of ways, answers: “Tomorrow we shall take out the dirty water from the well, clean it, and the next days’ rain will fill as much as it will. God willing.” My mind is emptied of the remains of my rage. There is no hatred in this man, no thoughts of revenge. I also tell myself that he is the source of light cutting through the darkness that closes in on the world, and they are already distributing the “Taki” cards among us.

From Umm Barid we proceeded to visit the family of the late Harun. As written in one of our recent reports, a few weeks ago they returned to their home in Rakeez, having been displaced for two months for fear of the Avigail and Havat Ma’on settlers.

Benevolent coincidence had us meet our friends Giora and Har’el there. About a decade ago, Giora – born and raised in our kibbutz, Shoval – asked us how he could help our friends in Massafer Yatta. We raised the problem of firewood for the fireplace that the area’s inhabitants need for warmth and cooking, especially in the winter months. [this region has high elevation and strong winds, combining for rather chilly winters.] Although Giora has been living for years in Kibbutz Samar in the ‘Arava Valley (near Eilat), he has met the challenge. He recruited Har’el, another Samar member, and the two have been on the five-hour road from Samar to Massafer Yatta and back quite a few times every year, bringing firewood with them for several of the poorest families in the area. In recent months, they have done so in collaboration with our friends No’am and Gali who live on a farm in the Northern Negev.

After they finished unloading the firewood, Giora and Har’el together with No’am entered the family cave at Rakeez and shared the tea we were served. In his own manner, Giora tried to encourage the father of this long-suffering family, sharing with him his forecast that this suffering will come to an end in the not-so-distant future, because the nationalist adventures of Jews in this country always end rather soon in historical terms.

After some minutes, having finished their tea, Giora and Har’el took their leave from the family and from us and went on their long way to their own kibbutz in the desert. Next week they intend to come back, carrying another load of firewood for other families.

Erella and Ehud, on behalf of the Villages Group [translated by Tal Haran and Assaf Oron]

Week of Dec. 24-30: Resilience in the Face of a Morally Corrupt Military Rule

Most events in this weekly update took place in north-central Massafer Yatta. A larger map of Massafer Yatta can be found here. To see the broader surroundings, go to B’Tselem’s interactive map and zoom towards the very south of the West Bank.

Dear friends,

The days go by, and writing becomes ever more difficult, directly tied to the growing difficulty of containing reality around us in all levels and directions. It is an ever-growing difficulty to contain human ignorance and its consequences, and to keep choosing to be a true healer (I borrow this expression from Albert Camus, who – in his novel The Plague – divides humans into four groups: murderers, victims, innocent murderers, and true healers). It is so difficult to witness the evil deeds that gradually multiply, while our ability to help continues to diminish.

Tulin and Sulin are twin 4-month-old baby-girls. They live in the Palestinian village of al-Mufaqara and we have known their father since he was a little child. Tulin was born with problems in her respiratory system. Doctors had to open her neck (the professional term is tracheostomy) in order to ease her breathing and remove the accumulating phlegm. She spent two and a half months at a Hebron hospital. Since she came home, we have provided her with the catheters that remove the phlegm. Her family could not obtain them for lack of access (the village is blocked and mobility difficult) as well as economically (1,000 NIS monthly cost). These catheters are life-saving, for without them Tulin would suffocate. We buy them in Israel and bring them to al-Mufaqara.

Last Wednesday, December 27^th, we delivered catheters for Tulin and sat for a while with her parents. Like most Massafer Yatta men, Tulin’s dad cannot get to his workplace in Israel since war broke out. With us sat the grandparents and aunts and uncles as well, young and old. They were glad to share tea with us and to praise their grandchildren.

Suddenly, with the speed of those skilled in such instant shifts from relaxation to emergency response, they all rose at once and ran up the hill to the edge of the range, several meters from their home. While trying to keep up with them and to comprehend this abrupt transition, I saw settler ATVs and mini tractors on the opposite range, their passengers descending on foot to the wadi below us. As we watched, a police car as well as a military vehicle arrived too. The children and the adults were on edge, bracing themselves for every possible scenario. As we stood on the very tip of the range, we could see that in the wadi, all its fields Palestinian-owned, one landowner dared to plow his olive grove. A small grove with ten olive trees. The neighboring settlers could not tolerate this. The owner called the police [and of course the police and military showed up right away]. Tulin’s family breathed freely. This time it was not about their private area.

Before I had time to process this experience, I had a call from Y., in another village. His village was invaded in the morning – as it is daily – by two settlers with an ATV who photographed the villagers and their children up close. Shortly afterwards, five settlers in uniforms arrived in a pickup truck. From the opposite direction came five ‘normal’ soldiers on foot. It remained unclear who had summoned whom. It was only obvious that the former were rude and violent, while the ‘normal’ soldiers were a bit gentler though they did not prevent a thing. Two young villagers were beaten up, shackled, blindfolded and taken by the pickup truck to an unknown destination. One of the villagers was taken off the vehicle and left somewhere, and the other was brought in the evening to the police station, all bruised, on (completely made-up) charges that he had hit a soldier. However, no matter how ridiculous the charges, as soon as settlers lodge a complaint, it enters official “legal” proceedings [of course the entire thing is the very opposite of proper law and order], and we cannot do a thing.  Lawyers, too, cannot help much in such cases. The settlers know that this is yet another form of harassment and torture, one of their favorite tracks for “silent” ethnic cleansing.

With these two experiences we arrived in Umm Barid. In previous reports I wrote about the family who lives there – two parents, four sons ages 20-30, four daughters-in-law, two grandchildren and a 13-year-old daughter. They all lived in a compound they had built on their own land, and developed a marvelous little farm. All this was cruelly destroyed in October-November by settlers who have squatted nearby, and who think that the land belongs to them.

Early last week the family returned home to rebuild it. The father says he has reached an agreement with the deceptively-named “Civil Administration” and the police, that they will guarantee his safety. Such a story we have never encountered before [considering the context – as exemplified by the two other episodes in this report – whereby the military (which runs the deceptively-named “Civil Administration”) and the police always do the settlers’ bidding, rarely stop settlers from committing crimes against locals, and are increasingly indistinguishable from the settlers].

Time will tell. Anyway, the determination, perseverance, trust and heart-warming smile of the father whom we met plowing his field with his donkey, this unbearable lightness of being, could only be practiced by those who know that they belong to the land.

Erella, on behalf of the Villages Group

Military & Settler Vandalism Escalates as Court Battle over South Hebron Hills Heats Up

We continue to follow, report and support the struggle of the Palestinian residents of the West Bank’s southernmost region, to continue living on their ancestral lands which they legally own.

One would think that in an enlightened society such a simple request would be guaranteed beyond doubt. Unfortunately, the opposite is true. For an entire generation, the Occupation regime, aided and egged on by the settlers that regime has introduced into the region, has been trying to uproot a few thousand indigenous residents. The mechanisms have ranged from military edicts, bad-faith legalistic arguments in court, pressure on the ground, and naked violence and vandalism.

On the court front, residents have last week achieved what seems like a minor victory. The Occupation regime now insists that “only” 8 Massafer-Yatta villages be evacuated and destroyed, instead of the 12 that the original 1999 edict declared to be part of an IDF “firing range”. According to lawyers who represent the residents, during the court battle the regime offered this reduction from 12 to 8 in exchange for stopping the struggle. Now the regime has been (apparently) forced to do so in exchange for nothing. The regime probably sees now that its flimsy – no, outrageous – arguments that it can declare a “firing range” over an entire stretch of populated land and pretend the people there have never existed, has very little chance of winning the day, even in the skewed playing field of Israel’s own courts. Therefore, it perhaps tries to appear more “rational” and “reasonable” by excluding 4 villages from the count. The High Court has responded by erasing the original 12-village petition, and inviting plaintiffs to resubmit an adjusted one for the 8 villages within several months, without any impact on their petition rights.

That victory noted, the IDF still controls the region very tightly, and has continued to try and inflict misery and intimidation upon residents, in the hope that they leave of their own accord. This summer’s campaign has started, as reported here, with sweeping evacuation and demolition decrees, in apparent violation of the pending court case. Now, during the first week of August the IDF raided two of the 4 villages removed from its evacuation edict! Then, on August 7 it raided Jinba village, which is among the 8 still included in the court case. Images of this “heroic” use of military might and resources against defenseless civilians, are below.

The pictures were taken in Jinba by Btselem activists, and transmitted to us by Guy Butavia. The raids were implemented using helicopters, which landed and took off in the village 6 times.

The cave dwellers’ hamlet of Jinba is one of the largest and oldest of this type of locality in the cave region of the South Hebron Hills\Massafer Yatta region. This being summer, many children who normally stay in Yatta during the school year (because no adequate secondary school exists in the cave-dwelling region) were in the village. The residents’ sheep, as usual, were also around, receiving the military’s attention as well:

Intimidation alone was not enough for the brave soldiers, so they also tossed out the contents of some closets, and spilled large jugs of milk and cream.

Amira Hass reported this raid on Haaretz, but apparently that newspaper’s English mirror is now attempting again to charge a premium for reading the only somewhat-independent mainstream Israeli source for news on the Occupation.

Then, on August 16, the region’s settlers once again pitched in. As Operation Dove reports:

In the afternoon of August 16th some Palestinians discovered that an olive grove situated in Humra valley had been recently destroyed during the night, according to a Palestinian. Thirty olive trees were broken or severely damaged. The olive grove belongs to a Palestinian family that lives in Yatta, a Palestinian town close to At-Tuwani. The area in which the olives trees were cut is located in front of Havat Ma’on, an illegal outpost.

The amount of Palestinian trees tore down and damaged [in the region] since January 2012 rises to 97: a largest number is located in Humra valley. The olive grove’s destruction represents several problems of subsistence for Palestinians. Operation Dove has maintained an international presence in At-Tuwani and South Hebron Hills since 2004.

Once again, the settlers and the military Occupation prove in action that they are two arms of the same beast: the beast of nationalist supremacy, dispossession and violence. In addition, over the past few days the military has confiscated private Palestinian vehicles in the region, under the pretext of “unauthorized driving inside a firing range.” The Occupation makes a joke of the concept “issue pending court decision”, and uses its power on the ground to intimidate and forcibly drive people off their land.

So far, the residents, aided by concerned citizens of Israel and around the world, have remained determined to stand up for their rights.

More images from the two vandalism incidents can be found below (credit for both sets goes to Guy Butavia).

My Home is Everything: the People of Susiya Speak to the World, and other updates

Dear Friends and supporters,

The latest news from Qamar, the lawyer from Rabbis for Human Rights representing Palestinian Susiya: the occupation’s “Civil Administration” agreed to extend the period for the submission of the juridical objections to the demolition orders issued for most structures in Susiya (Susya) last week, until the beginning of next month (1.7).

We take the opportunity to thank the many of you who contacted us during the last few days, expressing your solidarity with the people of Susiya, and informing us about various actions taken by them in protest against the demolition orders threatening the existence of Palestinian Susiya. A new website named “Susiya Forever” has been launched. It is dedicated to the people of Palestinian Susya and their ongoing struggle to continue living on their lands.

Meanwhile, after hearing about Susiya residents in the third person, now we finally have a chance to hear from the people of Susiya themselves.

Ibrahim Nawaja, a young local leader of the Susiya community and a student for documentary films in a colleague in Bethlehem, asked five women and four men in Susiya to share their feelings and fears about living under constant threats of demolitions and deportation waged against them by the Israeli occupation. The result is a unique short documentary that brings the simple message of the persecuted people of Susiya directly to you. The wonderful still photos embedded in the video have been taken by members of the families of the people interviewed in it.

Please watch and distribute widely, this is a crucial document for Susiya’s survival!

For many more videos from Susiya, check out http://susiyaforever.wordpress.com/movies/

Ehud Krinis on behlf of the Villages Group

“Civil Administration” and Settlers Join Forces to Destroy Palestinian Susya. Did the Court Wink and Nod?

In March, we reported here about an unusual Israel High Court petition by Israeli settler-run groups, demanding that the (fraudulently named) “Civil Administration” carry out demolition orders in Palestinian Susya (also transliterated “Susiya”). Settler pressure upon the government to make Palestinian life more difficult, and to drive Palestinians out of their homes, is nothing new. The two main innovations in that petition spearheaded by the NGO “Regavim”, were 1. Turning the reality and the human-rights terminology on its head, calling the Palestinian residents, whose presence predates the Israeli arrival in 1967, “illegal outpost settlers” and casting the settlers themselves as the indigenous, oppressed and discriminated party – and all that in a formal legal document!
and 2. For some reason that I still cannot understand, the settler plaintiffs had dug up a wealth of “Civil Administration” documents, and proved beyond reasonable doubt that its demolition policy in Palestinian villages has nothing to do with security.

Since the “Civil Administration” is a military body, unaccountable to the Palestinian residents and for all practical purposes inaccessible to them, and since “Security” is the only pretext under which such a pretense at governance can justify itself – one can only wonder why the settlers thought that exposing the fraud of the “Security” charade hiding the oppression, outright robbery and destruction meted out by the “Civil Administration” would help their case and not the Palestinians’. Regardless, in view of the very harsh words against the “Civil Administration” in that settler petition, one might think that settlers and “Administration” are bitter rivals.

Nothing could be further from the truth, and the extremely worrisome events of the past two weeks suggest that the entire court petition itself is being used as a charade, in order to provide the “Civil Administration” with a pretext to destroy Palestinian villages such as Susya, once and for all.

It should be emphasized, that Susya’s immediate neighbors, the Israeli residents of its namesake settlement Sussya built on Susya’s lands, are not passive bystanders by any means. The “Sussya Co-operative Association” is co-plaintiff in the Regavim appeal, and ostensibly it is the settlers themselves who called Regavim in, to help them clear their surroundings of those pesky Arabs for good. More details about this settler “lawfare” action, are in the first post.

According to recent events, Israel’s High Court of Justice has been cast in the role of an (unwitting?) accomplice. Here is how and why.

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On June 7, the Court issued an injunction (Hebrew original, pdf) on “Regavim”s frivolous, anti-Palestinian petition. Rather than be laughed out of court for filing a petition full of distortions, racist statements, guilt-by-association accusations and outright lies, “Regavim” has been treated as a respectable plaintiff. However, the injunction in itself sould not necessarily spell doom for the Palestinian residents. Here are the main excerpts from the court’s interim decision:

2. From the material and the discussion, it turns out that there are other petitions pending at this same Court, by [Palestinian] people who have built structures around Susya, petitions that among other things attack the demolition orders. In other words, petitions diametrically opposite to this one. …This matter should be discussed as a single one, with the participation of all sides [to the various cases]. We expect a joint statement [presumably by Palestinian plaintiffs]….within 45 days…

Another statement should be submitted by respondents 1-3 [“Civil Administration”, minister of security and IDF central-command general], with an update regarding treatment of [Palestinian] permit requests, approval of development plans, and so forth.

3. Another matter…. we accept the plaintiffs’ request. We hereby grant an injunction, forbidding respondents 4-34 [Palestinian residents] to carry out any construction without permit in the two areas discussed in the appeal. The injunction will stand until our verdict.”

At face value, despite (again) the disheartening respect with which a mendacious assortment of lies and incitement has been treated by Israel’s highest legal authority, there is nothing particularly alarming in this interim decision; arguably the opposite.

The Court did not ask the “Civil Administration” to go ahead and destroy Palestinian property. On the contrary, it mentions “permit requests” and “development plans” – hinting the justices know full well, that these are categorically denied from Palestinians by the fraudulent “Administration”. Even the stop-work injunction itself is a moot point. The “Administration” which scarcely hides its view of South Hebron hills Palestinian residents as illegitimate squatting pests, takes care to issue a demolition order on practically every two stones put together by a Palestinian in the region. By definition, any action by local Palestinians, except leaving the area for good, is deemed “illegal” by the “Civil Administration”.

In other words, in view of the injunction and the Court’s declared intention to shine a light and put some order into the sordid business of Susya’s construction permits or lack thereof, perhaps the “Civil Administration” might start to want to clean up its act, before it is publicly shamed?

Well, of course, the opposite has happened. The “Administration” is now in an all-out a rush to destroy as many Palestinian structures as possible before the Court weighs in – possibly, all of Palestinian Susya. These intentions were hand-delivered to residents a few days ago, together with high-resolution photographs delineating the areas in which all structures are to be destroyed. Residents were given only a few days (first 3 days, then 14, and now back down to 7) to submit an appeal.

Below is some more background from Rabbis for Human Rights, who together with many other groups are organizing a demonstration at Susya this Friday, June 22. The “Administration”, meanwhile, seems determined to start the destruction even before that. Will Israel’s High Court of Justice intervene to remind the “Civil Administration”, that cases pending in court should not be pre-empted by violence on the ground – or will the honorable justices sit on their hands and become part and parcel of the ongoing land-robbery charade? Please stay tuned.

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Following “Regavim”s petition, which requires the state to destroy the village of Susya, yesterday the “civil administration” issued six immediate demolition orders. These are based on old orders from the 90s and from 2001. Orders that Israel chose not to implement so far. Although original orders applied to individual structures, these new orders are applied to continuous, thousands of square meters, includes dozens of buildings in some of them. The orders apply to most of the village of Susya. Among the expected to be demolished, kindergarten, clinic and renewable solar systems, the only electricity source in the village.

In those six compounds live about 200 persons and hundreds of animals. They are expected to become homeless.

While Palestinians residents worry about the coming of bulldozers to destroy their lives, a few hundred meters away in Sussya – the namesake Israeli settlement built and funded by the government — bulldozers continue to prepare and build (image below).

Some background on the village of Susya and “Regavim” petition:

The Palestinian village of Susya has existed for centuries, long before the modern Jewish settlement of Sussya was built in 1983. In 1986 the Israeli authorities expropriated part of the village’s residential land in order to establish an “archeological site”. Several villagers from Susya were evicted from their land and homes and suffered incalculable anguish.
Immediately after the eviction, having no alternative, the villagers moved to nearby agricultural areas that they owned in an attempt to rehabilitate their lives.

However, in 2001 several families from the village (the Nawaja’a, Halis, Sharitach, Abu Sabha, and other families) became the victims of a second eviction. This time it was exceptionally violent: tents, caves, and cisterns were destroyed and blocked. Agricultural fields were dug up and farm animals put to death.
At the same time, the settlers established their own outposts. In 2001 the “Dahlia Farm” was set up and in 2002 an outpost was put up in the “Sussya Archeological Site” where the Palestinians had been evicted on the pretext that the land was intended for public use.
On September 26, 2001 the Israeli Supreme Court ordered the structures torn down and the land returned to the villagers. Despite this, the army and settlers continued to attack the Palestinian villagers and prevent them from reclaiming the 3000 dunam (750 acres) around the Jewish Sussya settlement.

The prevention of this reclamation was the subject of an appeal to the Supreme Court (5825/10) in 2010. The aim of the appeal was two-fold: to allow the villagers to reclaim their land and to stop the settlers from attacking the villagers.
In October 2011 the military commander announced that large tracts of the appellants’ land were “off-limits to Israelis”, hoping in this way to end the flagrant trespassing and the takeover of the land.

A few months after this appeal was submitted, the settlers submitted a counter-appeal in return.
The upshot of the counter-appeal was a third eviction of the Nawaja’a family that had managed to return to its own land in 2001.
Susya today: At least 42 orders to halt work and 36 requests for building permits have been submitted. At least 19 cases are still in the courts.
The “Regavim” plea was submitted against anyone who joined the Supreme Court appeal on Susya, and in revenge for that appeal. Evidence of this is that the plea was submitted automatically without examination, it was aimed at anyone who cooperated with the Palestinian appeal (land owners) even though only a few of them live in the village and/or have buildings in the village.
In this appeal, the settler appellants are trying to paint a false picture of symmetry between homes in the Palestinian village of Susya and the Jewish outposts. The transfer of a civilian population, the settlers, to the occupied territories runs counter to international law. The Palestinian villagers did not “take over” their land. This has been their private land for generations.

In the appeal, the charge was raised regarding the villagers as a “security risk.” Reality challenges the logic of this claim.
The Sussya settlement purposely doesn’t have a fence. Closing the area to Israelis illustrates the Palestinians’ need for protection from the settlers. Within the framework of the original Susya appeal, 93 events were presented as cases of violence perpetrated by the settlers, some of them as masked vigilantes. Since then many more incidents have occurred.

There is a basic failure by the authorities responsible for the planning in the region. This is especially obvious in Area C. The authorities are pursuing a policy whose goal is to transfer the Palestinian population to areas outside of Area C. This is apparent in the number of building permits, number of building demolition orders, and lack of planning for the protected population. At the same time, Jewish settlements and outposts are expanding, and more are on the way.
Since the 1970s there has been a drastic reduction in the number of building permits given to the Palestinians. In 1972, 97% of the 2134 requests submitted were approved. In 2005 only 6.9% were approved (13 out of the 189 requests submitted). The sharp reduction in permits parallels the dramatic decrease in the number of requests. In the same period 18,472 homes were built in the Jewish settlements!
This trend has continues and has even intensified. In 2009 only 6 permits were granted to Palestinians; and 7 in 2010.
In 2000-2007 one-third of the demolition orders in the Palestinian sector were eventually carried out, compared to 7% in the Jewish settlements. In recent years there has been a disturbing growth in the number of building demolitions. In 2008-2011 the Civil Administration pulled down 1101 buildings in the Palestinian sector and rejected every single building plan that the Palestinians submitted! The settlements have their plans approved and development made possible.

If the figures for building permits were reasonable and compatible with the population growth and natural growth rate of the village, as was done in the 1970s and 1980s, this would solve the lack of housing for Palestinians. In addition, it would eliminate the perpetual fear of expected demolitions.

The planning failure is also reflected in the lack of basic infrastructures for the Palestinian population, such as electricity, water, education, and health services. The settlers, on the other hand, are recipients of exemplary urban planning.
These facts show that this is not a case of legal constraints, but of intentional government policy. It is nothing short of the hushed-up transfer of Palestinians out of Area C.

As noted, these days, residents of Susya are fighting for their right to continue living on their lands. Please help them.

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The political elephant in the room in this case, is of course the “Ulpana Hill” affair rocking Israeli’s political and government circles. At the Uplana Hill expansion of the Bet El settlement, the developers built some of the homes in full knowledge that this is private land that had not even been bought from its Palestinian owners. The owners went to the High Court of Justice, winning decision after decision ordering the government to stop construction and hand back the land. The “Civil Administration”, whose headquarters sit at the same Bet El settlement, issued demolition orders, but apparently with no intention to carry them out. And so construction was completed, settlers populated the buildings, all the while with crystal-clear court decisions that the land is outright robbed. Finally in 2012 the Court found the government in contempt.

Now “creative” solutions are being debated: Prime Minister Netanyahu’s idea is to saw off the entire buildings, and transplant them whole into another location in the settlement, to the tune of some 100 million shekels. And he has publicly declared that “we will not allow the courts to be used as an axe to grind the settlement movement.”

The suspicion among Palestinian and Israeli activists, is that the High Court, feeling threatened, might want to score some easy political grace points with Israel’s government and the settlers, at the expense of Susya and other Palestinian towns and villages. With two new right-wing appointees sitting in the Court, including its chair who heads the Susya case, there are reasons to be suspicious.

Word and Picture Diary: South Hebron Hills Weekly Visit, April 5 2012

As we do every week, last Thursday April 5 2012 we went to visit several Palestinian localities in the South Hebron Hills, with whom we have been in contact for some years now. Two members of our little group – Hamed and Erella – just got back that day from a Britain tour as representatives of the Villages Group. So this week’s small visitor team consisted of Ehud and Danny.

We began with a short visit to the preschool (nursery school) in the Bedouin village of Umm al-Kheir. This preschool, opened nearly a year ago, is located in an old building with several rooms renovated with the aid of UNRWA, close to the Saraya of Umm al-Kheir (a term that during the Ottoman Empire days designated a government structure). Two local teachers run the preschool with about twenty children, and receive their salary through the Villages Group. The preschool has undergone a significant change lately – one teacher is now in charge of the younger children (two-three year olds) in the room used as the ‘bustan’ (pre-preschool), while her colleague is in charge of the older children (four-six years old), in the other room that serves as ‘rauda’, preschool.

From the hill where the Umm al Kheir preschool is located, the young children can see the present and future prospects arranged for them by the Israeli Occupation regime. Heavy equipment is busy developing and expanding the new neighborhood at the nearby Jewish settlement Karmel (Carmel) – a development doubtlessly paid for by the Israeli and American taxpayer. Together with an additional neighborhood planned to emerge soon, the settlement will eventually surround the dwellings in this part of Umm al Kheir from three directions (north, west and south).

This stranglehold is an integral part of the Occupation’s policy. The “Civil Administration”, that regime’s arm supposedly entrusted with providing services to Palestinians, has issued demolition orders on nearly all structures belonging to the Bedouin families living in this part of Umm Al Kheir – including outhouses, sheds etc. Many of these orders have already been carried out. We have written extensively here, both about Umm Al Kheir’s demolitions and about the vicious, discriminatory and fraudulent nature of the “Civil Administration” itself. Well-known literary translator and humanist Ilana Hammerman wrote a feature article about Umm Al Kheir and Karmel, with interviews of both Bedouin and settlers. The article was published a few months ago in Ha’aretz.

From the relatively new preschool at Umm al Kheir, we drove down the road and dirt track winding into the Judean desert for a short visit to the oldest operating preschool in the area. This preschool opened its doors about six years ago, at the Bedouin locality of Hashem al Daraj.

About 30 children crowd into the rickety one-room structure of this preschool together with their teacher, Huda, a native of Umm al Kheir who lives at Hasham al Daraj. Huda has been devotedly running the preschool since its founding, determined to overcome its harsh physical conditions. We first became acquainted with this preschool over two years ago . Since that first visit we took it upon ourselves to raise funds that would ensure Huda of a regular, decent salary, compared to the irregularly-paid pittance she had earned until then. We also connected Huda and her preschool with volunteers from the MachsomWatch organization. They have been coming to the preschool ever since. Jointly with Huda and the artist Eid from Umm al Kheir, The MachsomWatch volunteers hold an arts and creativity workshop for the preschool children every two weeks. Danny’s gesture in the picture show our reluctance to leave Huda’s place where we were so warmly greeted by the children – as we needed to fit visits to other localities into our tight schedule.

In the picture above, the children of Huda’s preschool look out towards the new and much larger building that UNRWA has been erecting for them nearby. Although it is already in an advanced stage of construction, completion is delayed. It is unlikely that the children and their teacher would move in before the end of the summer vacation, when the next school year opens. Much of the credit for the recent progress in constructing pre-school facilities at the region’s Bedouin localities goes to Hamed.

After visiting Huda’s preschool at Hasham Al Daraj, we left the Bedouin part of the South Hebron Hills (the eastern-most part of the region), and headed towards the small cave-dweller hamlet of Tuba. Jewish settlements Maon and Havat Maon had disconnected Tuba years ago from the road to nearby Yatta town. Nowadays access to Tuba is only possible via a much longer roundabout dirt track that leaves the Bedouin area and winds its way over the rocky hills. As we climbed this track in Danny’s jeep, the magnificent sight of the cave-dwelling hamlet area, locally called ‘massafer Yatta’/ ‘massfarat Yatta’ (Yatta’s hinterland) came into view.

After several drought years, the current winter has been relatively wet and the short spring that is about to end has yielded especially beautiful wild-flower expanses and a healthy growth of crops in the small fields scattered along the central track of the cave region. See previous posts describing the general conditions in this region and its hardships.

Tuba is a typical cave-dwellers’ hamlet – in its small population that hardly exceeds a few dozen, the affiliation of its families to larger clans whose life-center is Yatta, the main town of the South Hebron Hills, and in the ongoing, perpetual threat of the Israeli Occupation rule and its agents – soldiers and settlers – over the inhabitants’ lifestyle. Talk of the day in Tuba was the wandering tank that startled the residents out of their night sleep as it lost its way among the wadis of the region, designated by the Occupation authorities as military maneuver zone.

Life in the cave-dwellers area has many typical characteristics. Here we describe two of them: First, the custom of parents and brothers to build toys for the little children by recycling various objects. On our current visit, our camera caught the toy that Ali Awad of Tuba built for his young son, Ism’ail.

Residents of the cave dwelling region, Tuba among them, had lived without electricity or any refrigeration until recently. The local goat-milk cheese is known for its high salinity, a means of preservation for a lengthy period of time without refrigeration. On our visit, we saw blocks of this traditional salty cheese placed to dry near the solar plates installed in Tuba two years ago by the Israeli-Palestinian team of COMET-ME.

COMET-ME is our sister organization. In 2008, renewable-energy experts among Villages Group activists started installing stand-alone solar and wind electricity generators in South Hebron hills communities. A year later, the initiative began to operate independently as COMET-ME, and quickly attained worldwide recognition and support.

Among other benefits, the renewable power units installed by COMET-ME enable residents to increase production and improve the preservation of their dairy products. Unfortunately, the “Civil Administration” has recently threatened to demolish many renewable power installations placed by COMET-ME. About the international struggle now taking place against this travesty, see the organization’s website.

At the end of our Tuba visit, we returned from the caves dwellers area to the Bedouin part and to Umm al Kheir. Unlike the local rural population that has evolved its cave-dwelling lifestyle for centuries, the Bedouins of the region are originally tent-dwellers and do not live in caves. In view of the consistent house demolition policy applied in the part of Umm al Kheir nearest to the Jewish settlement Karmel, a large number of the local residents are forced to continue living in tents. Among others, we visited the tent of the family elder, Hajj Shueib (photographed alongside his youngest daughter Rana and Ehud).

Later we also visited widow Miyaser, whose straw and stones house has been recently demolished by official thugs of our time. Some of you, especially those who support the Villages Group in Durham, Britain, have already had the opportunity to help Miyaser and her seven children by purchasing her embroidery work (in the photograph, Khulud, Miyaser’s daughter, displays her mother’s new embroidery).

Additional pictures from our visit can be viewed by clicking on the thumbnails below.