Khirbet Susya

This article is about the Palestinian village in the Hebron area. For the modern Israeli settlement nearby, see Susya, Har Hebron. For the nearby archaeological site, see Susya.
Khirbet Susya
سوسية Arabic
village
Khirbet Susya is located in the West Bank
Khirbet Susya
Khirbet Susya
Location of Susya
Khirbet Susya is located in the Southern West Bank
Khirbet Susya
Khirbet Susya
Khirbet Susya (the Southern West Bank)
Khirbet Susya is located in State of Palestine
Khirbet Susya
Khirbet Susya
Khirbet Susya (State of Palestine)
Coordinates: 31°24′5″N 35°6′31″E / 31.40139°N 35.10861°E / 31.40139; 35.10861
StateState of Palestine
RegionWest Bank
GovernorateHebron
Population
 (2017)[1]
 • Total199
Time zoneUTC+2 (IST)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+3 (IDT)

Khirbet Susya (Arabic: سوسية, Hebrew: סוּסְיָא) is a Palestinian village in the West Bank. Palestinian villagers reported as living in caves and nearby tents are considered as belonging to a unique southern Hebron cave-dwelling culture present in the area since the early 19th century.[2][3][4] The village had a population of 199 residents in 2017.[1]

In 1982, an Israeli land authority, Plia Albeck, working in the Civil division of the State Attorney's Office, determined that the 300 hectares were Palestinians had been living, and which included an area with remains both of a 5th–8th century CE synagogue and of a mosque that had replaced it, were privately owned by the Palestinian Susya villagers.[5] In 1983, an Israeli settlement also named Susya was established next to the Palestinian village.[5] In 1986, the Israeli Defense Ministry's Civil Administration[6][7][8] declared the entire area owned by Palestinians an archeological site, and the Israeli Defense Forces expelled the Palestinian owners from their dwellings and appointed Israeli settlers from the recently-built settlement to manage the site.[5][9] Some of the expropriated Palestinian land was incorporated into the jurisdictional area of the Israeli settlement, and an illegal Israeli outpost was established on the area of the previous Palestinian village.[5][10]

The expelled Palestinians moved a few hundred meters southeast of their original village[11][12] and built new shelters on agricultural land. After the murder of Yair Har-Sinai from the nearby Israeli settlement, in 2001, the Palestinian village was demolished for the second time.

Having since been rebuilt, there are currently new demolition orders standing for the structures of the Palestinian village.[13]

The population of the Palestinian community reportedly numbered 350 in 2012[14] and 250 residents the following year,[13] which constituted by 50 nuclear families (2015), up from 25 in 1986[15] and 13 in 2008.[16]

  1. ^ a b Preliminary Results of the Population, Housing and Establishments Census, 2017 (PDF). Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) (Report). State of Palestine. February 2018. pp. 64–82. Retrieved 2023-10-24.
  2. ^ Oren Yiftachel, Neve Gordon, 'The Lurking Shadow of Expulsion,' 15 May 2002.
  3. ^ Nir Hasson,'Should 250 Cave Dwellers Interfere With the Fence? ,' Haaretz 13 September 2004.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference Havakook was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ a b c d A Chronicle of Dispossession: Facts about Susiya, B'tselem 29 July 2015
  6. ^ Bregman, Ahron (2014). Cursed Victory: A History of Israel and the Occupied Territories. Penguin Books. pp. 133–. ISBN 978-1-84614-735-7.
  7. ^ Friedman, Thomas L. (2010). From Beirut to Jerusalem. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. pp. 238–. ISBN 978-0-374-70699-9.
  8. ^ Neve Gordon (2 October 2008). Israel's Occupation. University of California Press. pp. 107–. ISBN 978-0-520-94236-3.
  9. ^ Magness (2003), p. 99–104
  10. ^ "Susiya: a Community at Imminent Risk of Forced Displacement" (PDF). United Nations. June 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 October 2015. Retrieved 18 August 2015.
  11. ^ "Civil Administration threatens to demolish most of Susiya village". B'tselem. Susiya residents have lived in this region on a seasonal basis since at least the 19th century
  12. ^ Stefano Pasta, "Cisgiordania, Susiya: i pastori palestinesi che tutte le mattine temono l'arrivo dei bulldozer", La Repubblica 10 June 2015: "Espropriati nel 1986, sotto sgombero dal 5 maggio. Fino a quell'anno i palestinesi abitavano nelle grotte a mezzo chilometro di distanza. Ne furono espropriati quando l'area fu riconosciuta sito archeologico. Andarono quindi a vivere nei terreni agricoli limitrofi di Susiya, di loro proprietà ma senza il permesso per costruire."[Translation please]
  13. ^ a b 'Khirbet Susiya,' B'tselem 1 Jan 2013.
  14. ^ Cite error: The named reference unfactsheet was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  15. ^ Cite error: The named reference grossman was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  16. ^ Cite error: The named reference Shulman2008 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).