Settlers attack as Palestinian villagers try to secure water in the south Hebron hills

By Joseph Dana August 19, 2010 | Edit

Israel and the West Bank are experiencing record temperatures this week. The heat always brings the issue of water access to the forefront of Palestinian minds in the South West Bank. The issue of water inArea C of the South Hebron Hills in the West Bank is a major one. Because the area is under full Israeli military and civil control, the Israeli government at the request of the Israeli army often denies water infrastructure for Palestinians villages. The idea is slowly starve the villages in order to pressure the residents into moving to major city centers such as Yatta and Hebron. Dramatic images of a Palestinian child holding on to his father as he is arrested by Israeli soldiers for ‘stealing water’ surfaced some weeks ago made international news.

Ta’ayush activists were on the ground in the South Hebron Hills last Saturday helping Palestinians create a water station for a village. What was captured on tape (below) are settlers verbally and physically attacking the activists and the Israeli soldiers that almost always accompany Ta’ayush activists in order to harass them. After the settlers rampage of destruction, the army turned to the Ta’ayush members with a closed military zone order. The struggle for water continues in the South Hebron Hills as settler violence shows no sign of slowing.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ER8VKHwgxns[/youtube]

Joseph Dana was a contributing writer on +972 Magazine from August 2010 to December 2011. This is an archive of his work.

End of article module for Members

TEST TEST GAL Our team has been devastated by the horrific events of this latest war. The world is reeling from Israel’s unprecedented onslaught on Gaza, inflicting mass devastation and death upon besieged Palestinians, as well as the atrocious attack and kidnappings by Hamas in Israel on October 7. Our hearts are with all the people and communities facing this violence.    We are in an extraordinarily dangerous era in Israel-Palestine. The bloodshed has reached extreme levels of brutality and threatens to engulf the entire region. Emboldened settlers in the West Bank, backed by the army, are seizing the opportunity to intensify their attacks on Palestinians. The most far-right government in Israel’s history is ramping up its policing of dissent, using the cover of war to silence Palestinian citizens and left-wing Jews who object to its policies.   This escalation has a very clear context, one that +972 has spent the past 14 years covering: Israeli society’s growing racism and militarism, entrenched occupation and apartheid, and a normalized siege on Gaza.   We are well positioned to cover this perilous moment – but we need your help to do it. This terrible period will challenge the humanity of all of those working for a better future in this land. Palestinians and Israelis are already organizing and strategizing to put up the fight of their lives.   Can we count on your support? +972 Magazine is a leading media voice of this movement, a desperately needed platform where Palestinian and Israeli journalists, activists, and thinkers can report on and analyze what is happening, guided by humanism, equality, and justice. Join us.

Make a Donation