The Expulsion of the Palestinian Population in South Hebron
The Israeli government, military, civil administration, and Jewish settlers have been carrying out a premeditated and coordinated plan to make the South Hebron area "Arab Free." This plan includes repeated expulsions of local residents from their land, destruction of houses, tents, and caves, sealing water wells, uprooting orchards, and preventing the residents from farming their land and tending their livestock. The government pursues this plan while expropriating the Palestinian land and issuing injunctions that confine the residents' right to remain in the region. These actions are carried out in order to exhaust the local Palestinian population and to run them off their land. In the last few months, the rate of evictions has increased and the attempt to ethnically cleanse the whole area is underway.
This report was written and photographed in the summer of 2001, and is brought back for the use of historians and activists, and with the understanding that nothing has really changed since then. For any remarks and requests, please write me.
Background
The South Hebron area is rural and hilly. Most of the land is rocky and difficult to cultivate; agriculture therefore is limited to small and isolated plots, which are usually located in the "wadis" i.e. in the ravines, where some soil accumulates. In addition to the population residing in the local town Yatta and several large villages, a few thousand Palestinians are scattered in the South Hebron area in small localized communities of five to six families each. This population migrated from the surrounding villages and began to settle in the area in the 1830s. They lived in natural caves and tents. Originally, these caves were used for temporary shelter; however, according to Life in the South Hebron Caves, a book published by the Israeli Defense Ministry, over the years these caves gradually became a permanent living space. The book also discloses that for generations these local farmers (who also raise sheep and goats) have preserved a unique way of life that is inextricably tied to cave dwelling.
Up until 1947, these farmers cultivated swaths of land that extended all the way to Arad. Following the 1948 war, they became Jordanian residents and were denied access to their land that was located on the Israeli side of the border. In the aftermath of the 1967 war, Israel occupied the West Bank, which includes the South Hebron region. The military occupation led to additional expropriation of the Palestinian farmers' land, this time due to the establishment of military bases, and the declaration of certain areas as "Drilling Zones" or nature reserves. From the early eighties, the Israeli government confiscated more land as it began building settlements in the area (Karmel, Ma'on, Susya, Metzadot-Yehuda (Beit Yatir), Otniel, Shim'a, etc.). Many of these settlements were built in an attempt to create territorial contiguity between border towns inside Israel and the area north of the "green line". While settlements were erected on expropriated Palestinian land, the government declared the entire area "state property."
Previous Expulsions
During the 1970s, the regional military commander declared large swaths of the South Hebron area "closed military zones." Since then, these injunctions have been renewed time and again. The official reasons given for these orders were "security needs," including using the area as IDF training grounds. Nonetheless, the IDF never actually used this region for drilling exercises. Throughout the seventies, the authorities carried out a number of sporadic expulsions, sometimes on a small scale and on other occasions on a much larger scale. During these evictions, houses were destroyed, residents were ordered to leave their villages and were informed that they could not remain in the area. In 1977, 1982, and 1997, for instance, buildings and shacks were ruined in Khirbat al-Nabi (See map 4). A more efficient expulsion occurred in Khirbat al-Jinba, a small village comprised of a few dozen houses and tents, which had been totally destroyed during a raid in 1984.
The situation of the local Palestinian population deteriorated during the eighties and the first half of the nineties due to these policies. Simultaneously, the Israeli government erected more Jewish settlements in the region. A quasi status quo was, however, created whereby the Palestinians were allowed to remain in their houses-caves, albeit under extremely restrictive conditions. For example, they were prohibited from constructing permanent structures, tending livestock, and cultivating land.
In the second half of the nineties, a new type of Jewish settlement was introduced in the region - the shepherd's ranch. This phenomenon increased the tension between the settlers and the Palestinians; the local residents testify to repeated harassment on the part of the ranchers. In the meantime, the military and civil administration continued to destroy houses, tents, and crops.
The Beginning of Massive Evictions
The first attempt to carry out a massive expulsion took place in November 1999. The military forcibly removed 750 Palestinians residing in 12 localities in the region between the "green line" and Road 317. In some cases, the soldiers came with eviction orders, while in others they did not display any orders. The expulsions were carried out by a large number of security forces, accompanied by bulldozers that destroyed tents and huts and sealed off the opening of the caves, which were used by the Palestinians as their homes. Hundreds of people, among them many children and infants, were forced to pass the winter without shelter. The expulsions took place a week after the government had evicted Jewish settlers from Ma'on farm - a farm that had been built without a permit. According to the Israeli press, these Palestinians were evicted as part of a deal worked out between the government and the settlers' umbrella organization the Yesha Council, as a means of compensating the settlers for the Ma'on eviction.
During spring 2000, after a public struggle in which various political organizations, writers, and public figures participated, the Supreme Court decided that the status quo - as it had been before the evictions - was to be reinstated, and that the residents were to be allowed to return to their house-caves. Accordingly, the families returned to their land under the protection of the Supreme Court decision.
Nonetheless, another expulsion occurred between the third and fifth of July, 2001, following the murder of Yair Har-Sinai, a Jewish settler who had lived on the outskirts of the settlement, Susya. For three days the IDF and the civil administration sowed destruction and carried out evictions. This time, the actions were far wider in scope than ever before, and affected communities throughout the region between Yatta and the green line, east of the Yatta-As Samu road. These expulsions were carried out without prior warning, and involved a large military and civil administration presence. The destruction was systematic in comparison to previous occurrences. Caves that had been sealed in the past were now completely destroyed by bulldozers, which also blocked most of the water wells in the area, ruined crops and property, and killed livestock. Hundreds of people were kicked off their land. Among the people expelled were those who the Supreme Court - in the spring of 2000 - had explicitly stated were not to be evicted. During this expulsion campaign, the military even prevented the Red Cross from providing the Palestinians basic humanitarian assistance such as food, blankets and tents.
Demolished cave in Susya, September 2001
Demolished well in Susya, September 2001
The Situation During July and August 2001
During the months following the large-scale expulsions, some of the residents managed to return to their land, although they were forced to live under extremely difficult conditions. The military prevented the Palestinians from erecting tents or rebuilding the ruins in order to preclude the possibility of any form of provisional residency. In addition, the authorities blocked all attempts made by Israeli and international human rights organizations to provide food assistance and tents to the population; the military even destroyed the tents that had been donated by the Red Cross. The residents' living area was considerably reduced, and the soldiers prevented them from cultivating their land and tending their herds. Finally, following wide scale public protests and legal appeals, the State Prosecutor announced that the government would avoid any additional steps that would further exacerbate the residents' conditions.
September 2001 and onwards
In mid-September, a Ta'ayush food and solidarity convoy traveled to the localities inhabited by the Noajah and Jabor families north of the Jewish settlement, Susya. Due to the water shortage in the area, the convoy also included two water tankers; the water was poured into one of the wells that had not been destroyed by the military bulldozers (for it was located in a region where evictions had not been carried out). The following night (between the 16th and 17th of September), the military began another round of evictions that lasted a few days. Nightly raids were carried out in which buildings and structures sheltering livestock were destroyed; two locations near Susya (Khirbat al-Nabi and Khirbat al-Tawaymin, see map 4) that had not been included in previous campaigns were targeted. The water wells that had been filled only the day before were ruined. The residents reported that the military used physical violence, including blast grenades that were thrown at one of the families' encampment. All in all, 118 people were expelled during this wave of evictions.
On September 23rd, 2001, Ta'ayush activists who were visiting one of the families prevented the military from carrying out yet another eviction in the vicinity of the Jewish settlement Susya. Simultaneously, the Palestinian residents filed a Supreme Court appeal requesting the State to allow them to continue living on their land and cultivating it. In the Supreme Court injunction, Judge Ayala Procaccia prohibited the Israeli authorities from expelling the Palestinians from the region. Despite the court order, large military forces destroyed buildings, property, and wells belonging to the Palestinian Abu Kavash family near As Samu, only a few kilometers from where the Ta'ayush activists had settled in order to prevent such actions.
Following the Supreme Court decision, the Khirbat Susya residents returned to their lands on the eve of Yom Kippur, September 26, 2001. That very same day, IDF soldiers confronted them, presenting an order which stated that the region was a closed military zone for a period of three months; this order was in direct violation of the Supreme Court decision and a promise made by the Defense Minister not to take such actions. In the wake of a large demonstration organized by Ta'ayush and other peace organizations on September 29, media coverage and political pressure, the Defense Ministry announced that the order was a mere formality, and that the residents were free to return to their land. Dozens of Palestinians returned to the area.
In the weeks that followed this last incident, the military prevented the residents and Ta'ayush activists from cleaning wells, and the settlers continued to disrupt agricultural work and building reparations. On October 26, Ta'ayush activist traveled to the area in order to ensure the local Palestinians' safety as they harvested their olives. In order to prevent the Ta'ayush activists from entering the area, the military declared the area a closed military zone once again. The order that was presented to the activists was effective for two months. However, within minutes after the activists left the area the area was reopened, indicating that that the region was closed solely in order to stop the solidarity meeting between Ta'ayush members and the local Palestinian residents.
Conclusions
There is clear evidence that the area of South Hebron, i.e., the whole region south of Yatta, which is currently part of Area C, is one of the areas that Israel would like to annex in the event of a future peace agreement. Moreover, the State is eager to receive this area "Arab free," and in order to do so, it is determined to expel all those Palestinians residing in small villages within the region - while ignoring the Supreme Court injunction and in direct violation of international treaties Israel has signed.
It seems that all and any means have become permissible as the State of Israel attempts to expel the population in order to annex the region; it does not seem to matter that the conditions the Palestinians are living under continue to deteriorate, or that violence is used to perform the evictions, which are carried out without forewarning. The fact that the Palestinians of the South Hebron area are a relatively weak and unorganized population is clearly being exploited by the State. Ta'ayush is concerned that in the very near future Israeli forces will carry out on a massive eviction operation in the hope of accomplishing its territorial objectives once and for all.
Ta'ayush is also alarmed by the fact that the actions of the civil administration and the military are closely coordinated with the Jewish settlers and are in effect determined by the latter group. The first massive eviction in the fall of 1999 (after the illegal Ma'on Farm was dismantled) was carried out following a request of, and in coordination with the settler umbrella organization, the Yesha Council. Along the same lines, the wave of expulsions and destruction of July 2001 occurred after the murder of the settler, Yair Har-Sinai (evidence suggests the evictions were made following settler demands). During this period of massive evictions, the Jewish settlers continued to expropriate land and create facts on the ground. Indeed, a number of new settler outposts were erected in areas that had been declared "closed military zones" and training areas. From discussions with the area military commander, it became clear that the latest orders declaring the region a closed military zone were issued at the request and following the advice of the settlers.
It is obvious that without immediate intervention and political pressure on several levels, the Israeli State and the Jewish settlers will continue in their effort to complete the eviction, and the area will be made "Arab free." Under the protection of military decrees that work selectively (i.e., they are only valid against human rights activists, but not the settlers), and using the next attack against the settlers as an excuse, the next expulsion is likely to occur.
Aerial photographs of South Hebron area
Sussya settlement is located on the lower left-hand corner of the photograph on the right, from February 2000. The same area appears on the photograph on the left from September 1969. A comparison between the two photographs reveals that all the land available for processing in this rocky area was already processed by Palestinians long before the establishment of the settlement.
For comparison or orientation please see map scale of 1:50,000
Year 2000
Orientation Map
Year 1969
These testimonies were reproduced courtesy of B'Tzelem
The Testimony of Vidad Muchmad El Nuajah: Born 1972, Farmer, Single, Resident of Susya (taken by Mussa Abu Hashash on July 4, 2001).
On Tuesday, July 3, 2001 at approximately 2:00 in the morning, a military force of about 100 soldiers and over 30 settlers arrived. They reached the area on foot, and arrested my 18-year-old brother, Nasser, and a son of our neighbors, Abed El-Muchsan Muchmad El-Nuajah, who is 25. When my brother and Abed returned at 11:00 in the morning they told us that they had been beaten while in custody.
At around 7:00 in the morning that same day, a large military force arrived, which included 9 white jeeps, 5 military jeeps, and other vehicles filled with soldiers. Four bulldozers accompanied them. They ordered us to remove all of our belongings from our houses as quickly as possible. My parents and I began to remove our furniture and foodstuffs, but before we had finished, the bulldozers began to destroy our "living" tents and our livestock and fodder tents. The bulldozers destroyed seven tents and two caves, one was the cave in which we lived, the other was used to shelter sheep and goats.
The military also destroyed 2 water wells, which we use for drinking water and for the sheep and goats. As a result of the sand and rocks that fell into the well, the water became unusable. In addition, the solar generator that supplies the tents with electricity was destroyed, not to mention the vineyard and fig trees.
The whole destruction process took over an hour and a half. Alongside the soldiers, there were also 15 men in civilian dress, and some of them were wearing religious skullcaps; they may have been settlers.
My family and I attempted to convince the military to stop the destruction, stating that we were not responsible for what had happened. The soldiers answered that we had killed a man who had been a father to nine children, and therefore we had gotten away with a very light punishment.
After the destruction campaign ended, the soldiers and the bulldozers went to our neighbors, the family of Mahmmud and Muhammad El-Nuajah (18 members in all). There they destroyed two caves, a water well, two tents, a sheep and goat pen which had 40 animals in it at the time. They also ruined the solar device that generates energy, and another tent that belonged to the family.
Last night we had to sleep outside because the military had not left us with any shelter. I cannot understand the reason for this attack, but I think it was some kind of revenge for the killing of the settler, Yair, who used to come to the area. He was a shepherd and used to harass the Palestinian shepherds in the region.
The settlers had not attacked us until now. I think the army did all of this in order to appease the settlers and calm them down.
People from the building and planning committee also accompanied the military in order to pressure us to leave the area. However, we will not leave because the land here is our livelihood. We raise sheep and goats and cultivate the land. We have no choice but to stay put.
We will rebuild the tents that the military destroyed, but will suffer from the polluted water wells, which are unusable due to the large amount of sand and rocks that fell into them.
The Testimony of Ahmad Muhammad Nasser El-Nuajah: 26 Years Old, Married and Father of Five, Farmer, Resident of Susya (testimony taken by Mussa Abu Hashash in Yatta, September 28, 2001).
I live with my father, my brothers, my sisters-in-law, and their children. Our family has 22 members, and we all live in Khirbat Susya, which is 400 meters west of the Jewish settlement, Susya. In the past, we were expelled from the ancient Khirbat Susya, which is located 500 meters west of where we currently live. We earn our livelihood by cultivating plots of land -- approximately 100 dunams [1 dunam = 1000 m square]-- and by raising 20 sheep and goats. Several families live in the area, around 80 people in all. During olive harvesting and land cultivation periods, hundreds of additional farmers arrive to help work the land.
From the moment we migrated to the area in 1980, we have repeatedly suffered at the hands of the settlers. In 1993 and 1997, the civil administration destroyed the houses in the area, despite the fact that they didn't have a destruction injunction in hand. We stayed in the area and rebuilt our tents, livestock pens, caves and water reservoirs. Following the destruction raid in 1997, the court decided that we had the right to remain in the area, but were prohibited from building any structures out of concrete. Despite the court decision, the settlers continue to harass us. The police investigate the complaints filed by the settlers and arrest Palestinians, while complaints filed against the settlers are ignored by both the police and the military.
On Monday, July 2, 2001, the settler Yair Har-Sinai was killed near Susya. The following day, the Israeli military and the civil administration arrived and destroyed dozens of tents, livestock pens, and water reservoirs that belonged to the local Palestinian residents. Soldiers continued to arrive in Susya every day and repeatedly harassed the Palestinian population. Among other things, they destroyed the tents that the Red Crescent had donated. A month later, they attempted to forcibly remove us from the area. I refused to be moved, and soldiers took me into custody for 24 hours. After all this, the military notified us that Khirbat Susya was a closed military zone and that we were prohibited from returning. The residents left for places close to Khirbat Susya. The family of Hallil Muhammad Muslam El-Nuajah left with us, but returned a month later.
On Tuesday, September 18, 2001 at 23:00, two military vehicles and a bulldozer arrived in Susya and destroyed the tents of Yusef Akel. The next day at 12:00 noon, the bulldozer arrived at my family's caves and tents, which had remained empty following the previous destruction campaign, and destroyed them as well as the underground water reservoir (that was, at the time, full of water). The soldiers arrested 16-year-old Nasser Muhammad Ahmad; he was later released 30 kilometers from Susya and had to return home on foot - alone and at night. Soldiers dragged the wife of Jaber El-Nuajah out of her house and demolished it on that same day.
The soldiers then took over a tent and demanded that the residents leave the region. The residents were forced to leave; some went to Yatta, others went to nearby towns and stayed with friends or family members.
On Wednesday, September 26, 2001 at 10:00 am, we received a fax from lawyer Shlomo Leker, which explained that the residents of Susya could return to their homes and rebuild their tents. Twenty people returned and began rebuilding their homes. At 12:00, two military vehicles arrived. The soldiers talked among themselves, and left without demanding that we leave the premises. We began to rebuild. At 15:30, ten soldiers and policemen in a military vehicle (license plate number 610807), and a police car (number 22260) arrived. One of the policemen took out a map of the region. He announced that according to the map, the area was a closed military zone from Wednesday, September 26, 2001 at 12:00 until December 26, 2001 at 12:00. The policeman added, while pointing in the direction of the tent, that there were snipers hiding in the tent, and that people who remained in the area were liable to be shot. He demanded that we leave the area within half an hour. We were forced to leave in a hurry, and we have not returned since. We have been in contact with the group Ta'ayush and other human rights organizations.
The Testimony of Mussa Jeebrin Salaam Rev'ei: Israeli Identity Card Holder, Born in 1955, Married and Father of 5, Farmer and Resident of Khirbat Jinba (testimony taken by Mussa Abu Hasha'ash on July 2, 2001)
At around 7:00 in the morning, I saw three bulldozers arrive at the military base, which is 1 kilometer south of Khirbat Jinba. Eight white civil administration jeeps, 8 national border police jeeps, two buses filled with soldiers, and 9 military vehicles also arrived at the base. I saw them all clearly with my own eyes.
At approximately 8:00 in the morning, the vehicles that had gathered at the base began to drive in clusters towards the local Arab villages: 3 white jeeps, 4 national border policemen, 5 military jeeps, and more than 60 soldiers began moving towards our house. Following them were also three bulldozers.
As we watched them approach, we understood that they were coming to destroy our houses. My uncle, Sulliman Abu Iram asked to speak with the Druze commander, whose name is Razi. He asked them to allow us to remove our belongings. Razi agreed, but said that this would take time and that they didn't have time to wait. We managed to remove some of our furniture as the three bulldozers began their work.
They began with the cave in which my family and I live. They destroyed our cave with our belongings inside. I tried to explain to them that this cave was ancient, but Razi hit my back with his rifle and asked two soldiers to take me away from the area. He also prevented me from using my cellular phone by threatening to confiscate it if I made any phone calls. The bulldozers continued their work and destroyed two stone houses, which belong to 21-year-old Shahar Ahmad Issa and his family (4 people in all) and 27-year-old Mahar Ahmad Issa and his family (also 4 members in all). Afterwards, they destroyed another two stone houses, one belonging to Issa Ahmad Issa Yunis, the other to Ahid Muhammad. All in all, 13 people lived in the two houses that were destroyed.
When they finished, they left and joined the other military forces that were traveling towards the villages of Atna'an, Khirbat al-Fakhit, Khirbat al- Majaz, Khirbat al-Zueira, Khirbat Sarura and Al Buga.
At approximately 11:00, Ali Ibrahim Ali Awad Ziin, from Ma'arya al-Abid, called and told me that the Israeli bulldozers were destroying houses and olive trees in the village. I looked through binoculars and could see the bulldozer destroying the water well which belongs to Khirbat al-Majaz and Khirbat al-Fakhit (3 kilometers north of Khirbat Jinba).
During the raid in Khirbat Jinba, the Druze commander asked me if I was aware that Yair had been killed. I told him that I was not. He then asked me if I had known Yair personally, and I told him that I had.
Currently there are 26 people without shelter, beds or blankets. Tonight they will sleep outside. Neighbors will loan them blankets and bedding, but we are staying here. The excuse the army gives is that we do not have building permits, but we did not build any houses that required such permits. Our houses are simple and made from stone. They destroyed our caves. Do we need permits for caves?