“It’s our responsibility to turn on the light”: Masafer Yatta, Apartheid, and Youth Activism

In this episode of Occupied Thoughts, FMEP’s Sarah Anne Minkin speaks with Sameeha Hureini, an activist and university student from A-Twani village in Masafer Yatta in the South Hebron Hills. Sameeha is one of the founders of Youth of Sumud and, together with her brother Sami, was recognized with the 2021 Front Line Defenders Award for Human Rights Defenders at Risk.

Occupied Thoughts by FMEP · “It’s our responsibility to turn on the light”: Masafer Yatta, Apartheid, and Youth Activism

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Recorded June 20, 2022

For more on Masafer Yatta, see:

Israeli Apartheid, the Supreme Court, and Land Confiscation: The Case of Masafer Yatta 

Wednesday, March 9, 2022

featuring Ali Awad (writer & activist from Tuba, Masafer Yatta) and Maya Rosen (Jerusalem-based activist) with Dr. Sarah Anne Minkin (FMEP)

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On March 15, 2022, the Israeli Supreme Court is expected to render a decision on whether the state of Israel will be permitted to carry out a large expulsion of Palestinians in the West Bank. The Palestinians in question live in an area of the South Hebron Hills called Masafer Yatta, residing for many generations in small, shepherding-based villages. In the early 1980s, in violation of international law, the IDF declared the area a firing zone (“Firing Zone 918”) — an action viewed by experts as taken with the clear Israeli objective  of displacing the Palestinian residents of the area and taking control of the land. Consistent with that analysis, for decades, Palestinians living in Masafer Yatta have faced constant threat of expulsion, home demolitions, confiscation of their property, harassment and violence at the hands of both the Israeli army and Israeli settlers. 

Ali Awad, a writer and activist from Tuba in Masafer Yatta and Maya Rosen, a Jerusalem-based Palestine solidarity activist, join FMEP’s Sarah Anne Minkin for a discussion of how Palestinians in Masafer Yatta continue to build their lives despite the constant existential threat they are under such threat, what they expect from the Israeli Supreme Court, and the international campaign they have launched to save their villages. We’ll also discuss the role of the Israeli judiciary in enabling Israeli apartheid and Israel’s  use of the “firing zone” designation as a means of confiscating Palestinian land. 

Participants

Ali Awad is a writer and activist from the village of Tuba in the South Hebron Hills.

Maya Rosen is a graduate student studying history at the Hebrew University. She lives in Jerusalem and is a Palestine solidarity activist. 

Sarah Anne Minkin, PhD, is FMEP’s Director of Programs & Partnerships.

Resources shared in the webinar: 

Read Ali’s writing: 

About Masafer Yatta + the Save Masafer Yatta campaign: 

On Israel’s use of Firing Zones: 

Settlements in Firing Zones: 

The recent FMEP webinar on state-backed settler violence: “Apartheid & Dispossession: Views from the West Bank” – with Eid and Basel al-Adraa from Masafer Yatta – https://fmep.org/resource/apartheid-dispossession-views-from-the-west-bank/ 

B’Tselem: “The Supreme Court of the Occupation” – https://www.btselem.org/supreme_court_of_occupation

Apartheid & Dispossession: Views from the West Bank 

Thursday, February 17th, 2022 

featuring Basil al-Adraa (journalist & activist), Eid (photographer), Eyal Hareuveni (B’Tselem), and Sarit Michaeli (B’Tselem) in conversation with Lara Friedman (FMEP)

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Palestinians face a growing matrix of mechanisms geared towards removing them from their land, dispersing their communities, and threatening their livelihoods. Join FMEP and B’Tselem to discuss the situation on the ground: what Palestinians in Area C (and increasingly in Area B) are facing and how they live under the shadow of dispossession, at the hands of the Israeli government, its security forces, its courts, and its private citizens.

Panelists

This webinar featured two Palestinians from Masafer Yatta in the South Hebron hills, an area in Area C whose residents are under particularly heightened threats and regular attacks, as well as video interviews with additional Palestinians living under threat.

  • Basil al-Adraa is an activist, journalist, and photographer from the village of A’Twani. Twitter: @basel_adra
  • Eid is a photographer.

In addition, Sarit Michaeli (@saritm0) and Eyal Hareuveni of B’Tselem, the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories — joined the webinar and speak about B’Tselem’s recent report, “State Business: Israel’s misappropriation of land in the West Bank through settler violence.”FMEP President Lara Friedman (@larafriedmanDC) moderated the discussion.

Resources shared during the webinar: 

Follow our participants: 

The new B’Tselem report: State Business: Israel’s misappropriation of land in the West Bank through settler violence 

New videos from B’Tselem, which we shared during the webinar: 

Some resources on Umm al Khair: 

A few resources from / about Basel al-Adraa: 

Yochai Damri, chair of the Mt Hebron Regional Council, “A settler’s vision: The Palestinians are trespassers, their homes must be demolished.” Speaking of Palestinian residents of the South Hebron Hills: Damri said: “They must not only have their homes demolished, but also be placed in prison. There are small communities that must be taken apart.” 

Breaking news on Twitter by Itay Epshtein: “BREAKING: According to @cogatonline, in the last five years, #Palestinians in Area C were granted 33 building permits, while during the same period, settlers – transferred to occupied territory in violation of #IHL – were granted over 16,500 building permits. Annexation de facto.” 

Hear more from Eid in this upcoming webinar, “Determined to Stay: Life in the South Hebron Hills,” with Eid, Maya Mark, and Gili Getz about the South Hebron Hills: 

Save Masafer Yatta campaign: https://savemasaferyatta.com/en/

Occupied Thoughts by FMEP · “We don’t have another place to go:” Threats, Settler Violence, and Resistance in Masafer Yatta

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Click here to watch this conversation on YouTube 

Recorded January 12, 2022

In this episode of Occupied Thoughts, FMEP’s Sarah Anne Minkin speaks with activist and author Ali Awad about the threats of dispossession and state-backed settler violence facing Palestinians in the Masafer Yatta area of the South Hebron Hills. Ali’s most recent article, co-authored with Awdah Hathaleen, describes extreme violence against a village elder in a non-violent protest in Masafer Yatta: “Israeli police shattered this Palestinian elder’s bones — and drove away.” 

Bios

Ali Awad is an activist from the village of Tuba in the South Hebron Hills.

Sarah Anne Minkin, PhD, is FMEP’s Director of Programs & Partnerships.

Resources

#Save Masafer Yatta: https://savemasaferyatta.com/en/

Occupied Thoughts: Pogrom in Mufagara and ‘Fighting for our justice’ with Basil Al Adraa and Natasha Westheimer: https://fmep.org/resource/pogrom-in-mufagara-and-fighting-for-our-justice/

Ali Awad in +972: 

Ali Awad in Ha’aretz: 

In this episode of “Occupied Thoughts,” Lara Friedman interviews Oriel Eisner and Maya Eshel, two activists who were detained by the Israeli police last week in separate but connected incidents. Their arrests are another piece in the puzzle of Palestinian dispossession and state-backed settler violence.

Occupied Thoughts by FMEP · Israeli Government Escalates Pressure on Israelis Who Stand in Solidarity with Palestinians

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Click here to watch this conversation on YouTube 

Oriel Eisner is an American-Israeli activist and organizer with the Center for Jewish Nonviolence (cjnv.org). He is based in Jerusalem.

Maya Eshel is an American-Israel activist currently engaged in daily solidarity work in the South Hebron Hills. She is based in Tel Aviv.

Lara Friedman is the President of the Foundation for Middle East Peace.

Resources: 

Palestinian Voices from the South Hebron Hills

Masafar Yatta/Firing Zone 918/Farming Outposts

Targeting Israeli Solidarity Activists

Occupied Thoughts by FMEP · Pogrom in Mufagara and ‘fighting for our justice’

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You can watch this podcast as a video here.

FMEP’s Sarah Anne Minkin speaks with journalist and activist Basil Adraa and activist and water management expert Natasha Westheimer about the increase in state-backed settler-violence in the South Hebron Hills. Over the last few weeks, both have witnessed and experienced settler and military attacks against Palestinians and solidarity activists. This week, Basil is being targeted by a smear campaign in an effort to undermine his credibility and ability to document human rights abuses.

Resources: 

Basil al-Adraa is an activist, journalist, and photographer from the village of a-Tuwani in the South Hebron Hills.

Natasha Westheimer is an Australian-American water management specialist and anti-occupation activist based in Jerusalem.

Sarah Anne Minkin, PhD, is the Director of Programs and Partnerships at the Foundation for Middle East Peace.