The olive harvest in Hebron went smoothly; this despite two soldiers poking their heads into the olive grove, informing that it was forbidden to harvest without coordinating beforehand, then disappearing. Things couldn’t have been more different in the South Hebron Hills. There, the day began in Umm Zeituna with the army’s attempt to kidnap (sheepnap?) a sheep belonging to a Palestinian shepherd and the frightened mammal’s release by activists. From there the activists moved on to harvest on the Abu Sabha family’s lands adjacent to Susia. Some fifteen minutes later […]Saturday, July 24 2010 drawing water in Tawamin and demonstration in Hebron
The village of Khirbet a-Tawamin lies south-west of the settlement of Susya. In 2001 the settlers, assisted by the army, expelled the residents of the village, which to this day was not rehabilitated. Some of the caves which served as homes for the villagers were destroyed by the settlers, others are used by them as targets for shooting practice. Last Saturday we returned to Tawamin to draw water from one of the cisterns which used to serve the destroyed village and bring it to the neighboring village of Bir el-‘Id, […]Saturday, July 17 2010 Water Collection in Tawamin for the Residents of Bir El-Eid, Accompanying Shepherds in Mufkarah and the Demonstration in Hebron
On Saturday we went to the cisterns in Tawamin to meet with the residents of Bir El-Eid and to continue collecting water and transporting them to cisterns the access to which is less disturbed by the settlers, a task in which we have been engaged for a month (you can read more about this in earlier posts). As expected, a few minutes after we arrived at the cisterns a few military and police jeeps arrived. Unexpectedly, this time the soldiers did not come in order to prevent the activity and to […]Saturday, June 26 2010 cleaning a well in Bir al-‘Id
The hamlet of Bir al-‘Id lies on the hillside between the outposts of Mitzpeh Yair and Havat Talia. Its inhabitants suffered for years from repeated bullying by the army and the settlers. The villagers were twice evicted from their homes: once in 1999, when the area was declared a firing zone, and again in 2000 by threats of attacks by he settlers. The long struggle, together with the residents, on the site and in the law-courts, bore fruit in November 2009. Only then 2 families (out of the original 400 […]Saturday, June 19 2010 grazing in Sussya
Early in the morning we went out to graze. Members of the family were already prepared, but they were not the only ones who awaited us there. An army jeep parked by the hill stood quietly, but within it the soldiers were already calling for reinforcements in order to control the children, the activists and the goats grazing peacefully in the area allowed by the law-court and the Civil Administration. The land is almost adjacent to the family’s houses, between the hill and the army observation post and the jeep. […]Saturday, April 24 2010 Escorting shepherds, Planting and Demonstrating in Hebron Escorting shepherds in the area of Mufakkara, and on the land of Abu Kbita in the area of Yatir was successful. Other groups of activists escorted farmers in a number of places around Susya. We returned to plant on the land of the Moor family, where settlers plowed a while ago, and where settlers had uprooted the trees we planted last week (April 17). Three other groups assisted in the harvest work near the Susya junction, where there are neighboring settlements and the road that serves the “Mitzpeh Yair” outpost. […]
Saturday, January 23 2010 Escorting shepherds and settler violence at Hill 18
In the morning we left to escort shepherds in South Mount Hebron. One group escorted shepherds from Mufkarah to graze near Avigail (a settler outpost). The escort passed without any special incident, apart from an army patrol that issued several warnings and then left the area. A second group escorted shepherds from Tuba and Metala in the area of Um-Zeituna next to the settlement of Maoz. Soldiers – called to the area by our “old friend” Gedalia – tried to detain several shepherds. But thanks to interference by one of […]Saturday, May 23 2009 Agricultural work and a visit to Hilltop 18 outpost Left Jerusalem at 8 a.m., with a group of 14. Khirbet Safa A small group of ours, composed of 3 activists arrived at Safa and joined an older couple, the husband 75 years old and his wife a few years younger. We accompanied them to their vineyard, in the nearby valley besides the Bat Ayin settlement. The husband had already been attacked several times by Bat Ayin settlers. In one of these instances stones were thrown at him and he was severely beaten, resulting in hospitalization and 4 months of […]
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