#susya

In time for Chanukah, 700-year-old lamp found in Hebron hills

Ancient Susya is home to a magnificent synagogue from the Talmudic period, houses, dwelling caves, and an escape cave. Just before Chanukah, school students from Susya, in the Hebron hills, found a unique oil lamp that was used to illuminate the nights of the ancient Jewish inhabitants of the town. Susya School students set out as part of the curriculum to take part in the archeological…

The Israeli State Attorney’s Office announced on November 22 that within 15 days it would demolish some 20 buildings, representing approximately one-fifth of the total number of buildings in the village. The Israeli state’s claim – denied by the petitioners of the Palestinian community of Susiya – is that these buildings were constructed in violation of a judicial order, despite the potential to regulate the village and find a solution. In accordance with international law, Israel has no right to change the local legislation, including local practices relating to property and settlement, unless there is a clear security need to do so.

We are asking you to reach out to your representatives to ask them to contact Israel’s Ambassador and request them to cancel pending demolition orders in Susiya.

Attorney Quamar Mishriqi-Assad, co director of Haqel: In Defense of Human Rights and who is representing the residents of the village, explains: “The demolition of one-fifth of the village is an extreme step that will damage the most basic humanitarian needs and the very humanity of those involved, without it even having been proved that they have violated the law. As winter arrives, the imminent demolition will leave 100 people, half of them children, without shelter… This is contrary to Israel’s obligations under international law. Israel is guided neither by law nor justice, but by the desire to evacuate the area.”

The State’s announcement implies the immediate destruction of residential buildings, a clinic, and livestock pens, causing mortal and irreversible damage to the basic rights of some 100 residents of the village (half of whom are children) who have nowhere else to live. Adv. Quamar submitted a request to respond to the state’s response.

The residents of Susiya have never been given a chance to regulate their homes and village. Over the years, residents have attempted to regulate their residence of their land, however, all their requests for permits, appeals, and a plan have been rejected - not even a single building has received a permit.

The day residents are expelled from their land will seal their fate as a farming community with a unique tradition. It will also seal the fate of their farmland, as settlers from the adjacent settlement will gradually invade their land without the law enforcement authorities taking any action to prevent them. This is precisely what has already happened to 400 dunams (~ 100 acres) of land that belonged to neighboring communities.

Background: The Palestinian Village of Susiya

Houses (31°23′30.67″N 35°6′44.45″E), Palestine, 2012-15 The series is a documentation of a Palestinian village called Susya. It was established in the 1830s, and a religious communal Israeli settlement under the jurisdiction of Har Hebron Regional Council was established in 1983. The Palestinian community has a population of 250 residents as of 2013. The Israeli settlement, on 1,800 dunams of land, had a population of 737 in 2006. Susya, whether it refers to the site of the synagogue or the ruins of the large ancient settlement of some 60 dunams (1 dunam =1000 m2), is not mentioned in any ancient text, and Jewish literature failed to register an ancient Jewish town on that site. Susya, as my guide told me, is the village famous for its resistance as it encourages all other villages in the area to stay in place. Here architecture appears as a symbol of resistance in the occupied Palestinian territories, disrupted by the constant construction of new settlements in spite of the fact that in the Palestinian territories land is already too scarce to live on comfortably. The houses (which there aren’t many of) are sturdy as they are made of bricks or concrete. However, they are made to look like temporary structures or tents in order to appear ephemeral and in flux. The land of the Palestinians ends where the house ends. It is dangerous for them to go out into the fields into the proximity of thesettlers. Children are frequently attacked on their way to school when passing near Israeli settlements. The environments of Palestinian houses are no-go areas, are non-spaces. Palestine has been continuously recorded from the very beginning of photography. In 1849, Maxime du Camp was one of the first to make a systematic photographic survey of monuments, ruins and landscapes in the middle east, including Palestine. Today the political question of the territory and how it is represented is more acute than ever, and photography brings a crucial contribution to an awareness of what it is to inhabit a contested and damaged landscape. When the painter Delacroix visited North Africa in 1832, he saw Greek and Roman Antiquity in the folds and drapery of the people's garments. He was seeing the classical past of art history in the present. To take pictures of these houses in Susya is akin to taking a portrait. The houses of Susya are covered with tarpaulin so that they are concealed from view. And the tarpaulins resemble drapery. These contemporary folds have a new currency: they have migrated from classical art to the present day of these Palestinians dwellings. Acting as camouflage in a zone of conflict, this contemporary form of drapery acquires now an unexpected political and subversive meaning.

Op-Ed: Susya – EU:n tukema laiton Länsirannan siirtokunta

Susyan kuvitteellisen arabikylän purkutuomio (ks. aiempi kirjoitus Op-Ed: Puuttuva rauhansopimus Susyan arabikylän kohtalona) tuo selkeästi esiin EU:n kaksinaismoraalin lähi-idän konfliktissa ja suhteessa kansainväliseen oikeuteen. Koska Susya ei ole yksittäistapaus vaan pikemminkin osa EU:n aktiivista toimintaa yhden konfliktin osapuolen toiveiden täyttämiseksi käytännössä osapuolten välisisissä…

Hundreds protest the ethnic cleansing of Susya

Photoset, top to bottom: 1) Palestinian girls chant slogans at the protest against the demolition of their village. 2) Hundreds of Palestinian, Israeli and international activists march into the Palestinian village of Susya, demanding that Israel not demolish it. 3) Activists hang a massive sign on the main road leading to the former site of the village, to ensure that Israeli settlers see it. 4) A view of the tents that comprise most of Susya. Israeli authorities reject 90 percent of Palestinian planning requests, which means that almost all new Palestinian homes in the area are built without permits, putting them at risk of demolition. Susya, South Hebron, West Bank. 24 July 2015. Activestills.

“We strongly urge the Israeli authorities to refrain from carrying out any demolitions in the village. Demolition of this Palestinian village or of parts of it, and evictions of Palestinians from their homes would be harmful and provocative.” -US Secretary of State John Kerry

“[The EU] calls on Israeli authorities to halt plans for forced transfer of population and demolition of Palestinian housing and infrastructure in the Susya and Abu Nwar communities.” -Council of the European Union

Op-Ed: Puuttuva rauhansopimus Susyan arabikylän kohtalona

Israelin korkein oikeus näytti viime torstaina [16.7.2015] vihreää valoa noin 80 laittoman rakennelman purkamiselle Susyan (Arabic: سوسية‎, Hebrew: סוּסְיָא) arabikylässä. Susya sijaitsee noin puolen tunnin ajomatkan päässä Be´er Shevasta Hebronin suuntaan Juudeassa Israelin hallitsemalla nk alue C:llä. Susyan kylällä on itse asiassa kolme merkitystä: ensinnäkin se on muinainen juutalaiskylä,…