Firing Zone 918

Israeli soldiers block the path of a Palestinian shepherd and her flock of sheep near the West Bank village of Al-Mufagara, South Hebron Hills, West Bank, December 21, 2012. (Oren Ziv/Activestills)

‘The hardest year of my life’: Masafer Yatta shepherds suffer under expulsion threat

Israel's escalating repression since last year's High Court ruling has severely impacted Palestinian shepherds, a pillar of their communities' survival.

By Hamdan Ballal Al-Huraini June 5, 2023

Residents of Masafer Yatta load their belongings onto trucks during the expulsion of 1999. (Nasrin Elian/B'Tselem)

The photos that once helped save Masafer Yatta from expulsion

In 1999, images of Palestinian lives being upended generated enough pressure to enable families to return home. Now, they live in fear of the next expulsion.

By Basel Adra March 21, 2023

WATCH: Women of Masafer Yatta tell their stories of resistance

As Israel carries out its expulsions in the West Bank region, Palestinian women talk about what it means to face a state that targets them as an 'enemy.'

By Social TV August 29, 2022

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Palestinians and Jewish activists from Israel and abroad work to build the Sumud Freedom Camp’s main tent in the village of Sarura, whose residents were forced out in the 1980s and 1990s, South Hebron Hills, occupied West Bank, May 19, 2017. (Activestills/Ahmad Al-Bazz)

Demolishing our community center won’t destroy our resistance

'Youth of Sumud' supports Palestinian steadfastness against the occupation in Masafer Yatta and across the West Bank. And that scares Israel.

By Sameeha Hureini August 24, 2022

Mahmoud Awad in his village of Tuba in Masafer Yatta, West Bank. (Emily Glick)

The scars that don’t heal in Masafer Yatta

Palestinians share the stories behind the physical scars inflicted by Israeli settlers and soldiers, of their struggles with survival and grief, and of relearning their bodies in the face of unending violence.

By Ali Awad and Emily Glick July 27, 2022

A Palestinian boy on a donkey looks at Israeli army vehicles as they park during an Israeli military training in the northern Jordan valley, West Bank, on December 8, 2016. (Keren Manor/Activestills)

Classified document reveals IDF ‘firing zones’ built to give land to settlers

In a top-secret meeting held in 1979, revealed here for the first time, then-Agricultural Minister Ariel Sharon explained that firing zones were meant to create 'land reserves' for settlements, as part of his larger plan of establishing 'ethnic borders' between Jews and Palestinians.

By Yuval Abraham July 11, 2022

An Israeli settler throws a stone at the window of a car containing three left-wing Israeli activists, as another settler blocks their exit, outside the Mitzpe Yair outpost, occupied West Bank, June 10, 2022. (Oren Ziv)

Army stands by as settlers attack activists in Masafer Yatta

A settler smashed an activist’s car and returned safely to his outpost, after soldiers violently dispersed a protest against Palestinian expulsion.

By Oren Ziv June 13, 2022

Israeli police stand in front of a bulldozer demolishing homes in Masafer Yatta in front of the occupied West Bank, June 1, 2022. (B'Tselem)

Palestinians in Masafer Yatta made homeless twice over by Israeli demolitions

The Israeli military bulldozed tents housing 21 Palestinians on Wednesday morning, whose original homes had already been destroyed last month.

By Basel Adra and Yuval Abraham June 1, 2022

Israeli forces conducting a training drill near and inside villages in the Masafer Yatta area, West Bank, February 3, 2021. (Keren Manor/Activestills)

Israel says this book justifies Masafer Yatta expulsions. Its author begs to differ

An Israeli anthropologist contradicts the High Court's claim that his study proved Palestinian villages didn't exist when the army declared a firing zone.

By Yuval Abraham May 25, 2022

A child stands among the ruins of a house that was demolished in Al-Mirkez, Masafer Yatta, occupied West Bank, May 11, 2022. (Rachel Shor)

Armed with High Court expulsion order, Israel’s bulldozers arrive in Masafer Yatta

The Israeli army carried out the first demolitions in the area since last week’s court ruling, triggering fears of a mass deportation not seen in two decades.

By Yuval Abraham and Basel Adra May 12, 2022

Residents of the Bedouin village of Umm al-Hiran awaiting the Supreme Court's decision on their village's fate, Jerusalem, November 20, 2013. (Tali Mayer/Activestills.org)

Only Palestinians can decide whether to boycott the occupier’s court

With Israel's Supreme Court greenlighting the forced expulsion of Masafer Yatta, the question of whether to 'legitimize' the courts has arisen again.

By Michael Sfard May 10, 2022

Ali Awad, 23, in his village of Tuba, South Hebron Hills, occupied West Bank. (Emily Glick)

In Masafer Yatta, activism is not a choice but a necessity

I was only a toddler when my family was expelled from our village in the South Hebron Hills. Now I’m campaigning to stop it from happening again.

By Ali Awad and Emily Glick April 21, 2022

Palestinians inspect the ruins of a Palestinian house that was demolished by Israeli bulldozers in the West Bank city of Beit Jala, near Bethlehem, on January 29, 2018. (Wisam Hashlamoun/Flash90)

What Israel also destroys when it demolishes a child’s home

Children in the South Hebron Hills face a recurring trauma: the state's destruction of their homes, and of the security a home is supposed to bring.

By Hamdan Ballal Al-Huraini March 15, 2022