SOUTH HEBRON HILLS: Israeli military demolishes three cisterns and two wells in arid region.

SOUTH HEBRON HILLS – On Tuesday, 14 December 2010, the Israeli military
demolished three water cisterns and two wells in the arid and hilly Khashem Ad
Daraj/Hathaleen region, about twenty-six km southeast of Hebron/al-Khalil. 

 The demolitions follow a pattern of destruction of
Palestinian property by the Israeli military in the Oslo Accords-defined Area
C.  The Israeli army failed to
deliver demolition orders to the residents of the villages in the area and instead
left them under a stone two days earlier for the residents to find.

The demolished cisterns and wells supplied drinking water to
the villagers as well as their sheep and goats—the primary sources of food and
income for the villages in the area. 
The wells were up to 300 meters deep and over seventy years old,
pre-dating the 1967 occupation of the Palestinian Territories.  The Israeli military claims that it
does not destroy structures created before 1967.

The region receives an average yearly  rainfall of between 150 – 250 mm.*

*Applied Research Institute – Jerusalem & United Nations
World Food

Programme.  February
2010 Report.