Annexation de-facto: Israeli soldiers detained Palestinian inhabitants of South Hebron Hills communities, who were on their way home from the town of Yatta, at a checkpoint on the road, proclaiming they were “blacklisted against entering Israel”; Israeli soldiers shot and wounded a Palestinian at Qalandiya Checkpoint; At Farisiya, a settler-colonist set his dog against a Palestinian flock, several sheep were wounded – Israeli army and police arrived at the scene with the settler-colony’s security official, and chased away – the Palestinian shepherd and his flock; a protest demonstration was held in the Salfit district against demolition of a center for people with special needs, and the founding of a new settler-colonist outpost; another week of settler-colonists’ and Israeli soldiers’ demolitions, confiscations and incursions into Palestinians’ grazing grounds, olive groves and fields.

photo: Palestinians who live in the South Hebron Hills are detained at an Israeli army checkpoint between Yatta and Susya (Area C) with the pretext that they are “blacklisted against entering Israel”, December 8, 2020

South Hebron Hills
On Tuesday, December 8, the Israeli army put up a checkpoint/barrier on the road connecting the town of Yatta (Area A) with Susya and other Palestinian communities inside Area C, and the soldiers at the barrier prevented Palestinians from returning to their homes, under the pretext that they were ‘blacklisted against entering Israel’. A resident of Palestinian Susya and teachers on their way to give classes in the Palestinian communities were detained at the barrier for hours, and only a lawyer’s intervention finally enabled them to get through. The next day, Wednesday, once again a resident of Palestinian Susya was detained on his way home from Yatta for 2 hours, under the same pretext. The soldiers claimed they “received orders from higher echelons”. Apparently, the Israeli army has begun to implement a de-facto annexation of Area C to the State of Israel.
On Monday and Tuesday this week, settler-colonists of the new outpost at Umm Zaitouna entered sown fields belonging to Palestinians, crossed them, and went to graze in areas that usually the grazing ground for Palestinian flocks. Palestinian shepherds on site preferred to leave along with their flocks.
A group of settler-colonists reached Bir Al Eid on Wednesday (December 9). Claiming they were searching for sheep they had lost. The frightened Palestinian villagers summoned Palestinian activists, and when these arrived, the settler-colonists left.
On Tuesday, this week, Israeli occupation forces demolished a sheep pen at Simiya and confiscated a water tank at Rafat, opposite the illegal settler-colonist outpost of ‘Asa’el’. The same day, the Civil Administration toured the Dakaika area, and photographed a water pipe that serves the local residents. On Thursday, December 10, a concrete mixer was confiscated near Ma’in.
On Saturday, a Palestinian landowner who arrived at his fields in Umm Al Arais close to the outpost ‘Mitzphe Ya’ir’ discovered that 30 of the olive trees he had planted there were uprooted, and dozens of other trees were vandalized and eaten by a flock belonging to the settler-colonists of the outpost. This happened after last week a settler-colonist of the same outpost promised to uproot the trees planted by the same landowner.
On Friday, December 11, Susya villagers plowed their fields near the Jewish settler-colony. Settler-colonists tried to prevent the work, but the army enabled it. On Saturday settler-colonists from the outpost of ‘Havat Ma’on’ summoned the Israeli army in order to prevent a Palestinian from digging holes for the planting of trees in his own lands at Rakiz. Army and Civil Administration personnel who arrived obeyed the illegal orders of the outpost settler-colonists and ordered the farmer to cease his work without any legal grounds. Activists arriving there accompanied him to continue working. Activists also helped remove demolition rubble at Khalat A-Dhabba on Saturday.

Palestinian Jordan Valley and West Bank Hill Range
On Wednesday, December 9, at Farisiya in the northern Palestinian Jordan Valley, a settler-colonist set his dog at a Palestinian shepherd’s flock and caused the wounding of two sheep. Activists summoned to the site realized that the nearby settler-colony’s security official as well as army and police forces had already arrived. These notified the shepherd that the ground had been transferred to the holding of the security official, refused to handle the attack on the flock and the wounding of the sheep, and chased him away.
At Auja in the southern Palestinian Jordan Valley, Israeli occupation forces demolished 7 structures on Tuesday, December 8.
On Friday, December 11, Israeli soldiers chased away shepherds and flocks grazing on Palestinian Waqf-owned lands in the area, although the activists accompanying the flocks explained to the soldiers that this removal had no legal authority. Two days earlier, on Wednesday, activists accompanied the shepherds in the same area, and everything proceeded unhampered.
In the Tayibe-Junction area on the West Bank Hill Range, activists accompanied Palestinian farmers who were plowing their lands on Friday, close to a settler-colonist outpost that has been founded there this past year. The plowing went unhampered but after it was over, settler-colonists from the outpost arrived at the Palestinians’ homes and threatened them.

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On Monday, Israeli occupation forces at Qalandiya Checkpoint shot a Palestinian and wounded him, claiming he wouldn’t obey their orders to stop.
Earlier this week, several dozens olive saplings were uprooted in the village of Brukeen (Salfit district), not far from lands belonging to A-Dik village, where dozens of adult olive trees were vandalized last week. Between the two groves lies the outpost that has been legalized as the settler-colony of ‘Brukhin’.
At the beginning of the week, 4 olive trees were also vandalized belonging to Hares, close to settler-colony ‘Revava’. An entire olive grove was destroyed at the same place – 200 trees – in May. Israeli soldiers arrived at this land this week, and warned the owners they must not be there, and if they dare return, they will be fined for thousands of shekels.
On Friday activists took part in a protest demonstration north-west of Salfit. Such demonstrations have been held there for some weeks now, first following the demolition of a center for people with special needs by the Israeli army, and now because of the erection of a new settler-colonist outpost west of Salfit, south of the Ariel industrial zone. The demonstrators who marched towards the outpost were blocked by military force.

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This week, Israeli occupation forces demolished 3 structures at Al Maniya south of Bethlehem, and another at Ras Al Tin on the West Bank Hill Range.

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The weekly protest in Sheikh Jarrah takes place every Friday. The residents of Sheikh Jarrah are protesting their violent evictions from their homes, the taking over of the neighborhood by the settlers, and the Judaization of East Jerusalem. They call upon each and every person who supports their struggle to join them.
We will meet at the Sheikh Jarrah Garden, Nablus Road and Dahlmann St. at at 3 p