Arabs have taken over the area, and may reap a fortune if the separation barrier is extended.
The area in question is several hundred feet north of the 1949 Armistice Line, also known as the Green Line, giving Arabs command of smuggling trails east of the southern Hevron Hills.
Dirt trails to the south and east allow Bedouin and Arab terrorists to travel with illegal workers and import and export explosives and weapons with little surveillance. Once a terrorist takes the trail to Arad to the south or the Dead Sea to the east, he is free to travel to the heart of Israel.
The separation fence currently ends adjacent to a no-man's-land area that has been farmed for 10 years by Jewish resident Yaakov Talia. The area is disputed, and the Arabs recently won a battle in the campaign when IDF Central Commander Gen. Yair Naveh signed an order giving the Arabs control of part of it.
The army has also issued orders barring Israelis from the disputed location. Arabs of Judea and foreign leftists are permitted to enter, but Jews who wish to protest the land grab are kept out.
Arabs and foreign left-wing "peace activists" overran the land on Tuesday, planted hundreds of olive trees and herded sheep in order to stake a claim to the area. Headed by the Arab group Taayush, they then continued beyond the disputed land and destroyed shrubs and grains on land that is recognized as part of Talia's farm.
Talia, who has been burglarized several times, asked the army and police to call the Civil Lands Administration to arrive and confirm that the land belongs to Jews. More than two hours later, Lands Administration officials still had not responded to the call to stop the incursion, and the trespassers and vandals finally left of their own accord.
The partition separation fence in the area envelopes Gush Etzion and the area from Hevron southward to Yatir on three sides, leaving open the entire eastern flank from Yatir to Jerusalem.
The government had planned to extend the separation barrier eastward toward the Dead Sea, but environmentalists recently succeeded in convincing key Knesset Members to oppose the project. However, the plan has not yet been shelved, and if the fence is built on the land displacing the trees and grazing area, the Arabs will be in line to receive millions of shekels in damages. The Yatir area had been one of the quietest in Judea and Samaria until last year when European Union (EU) funds to the Palestinian Authority (PA) financed the transfer of Hevron area Arabs, supported by new vehicles and leftists, to stake out claims in the area.
Talia moved to his farm with his elderly father and mother - native South Africans - in 1996, at the height of the enthusiasm over the Oslo peace negotiations with the Palestinian Authority. American satellites observed that a single trailer home had been placed on the windy and barren hilltop, and diplomats began to ask questions.
The hilltop is within the land allocated for use by the community of Beit Yatir, but the issue landed on the desk of the White House, which removed objections to establishing the farm.
Talia also farmed land outside the fence, where no Arab had farmed except for one resident of Yatta, adjacent to Hevron. He planted barley for two months each year in order to give his sheep food while grazing. However, in the past year, Arabs told the army that the land is theirs. The senior officer in the Hevron brigade accommodated them and established a policy that letting the Arabs have the land will ensure peace and quiet, according to Southern Hevron regional council officials.
Instead, leftists have escorted the Arabs to stage numerous incursions in the area, and both Talia and nearby farmer Yochanan Sharett declared that an army officer told them of intelligence reports that their lives were in danger from Arab terrorists. The farmers have been threatened several times.
The area in question is several hundred feet north of the 1949 Armistice Line, also known as the Green Line, giving Arabs command of smuggling trails east of the southern Hevron Hills.
Dirt trails to the south and east allow Bedouin and Arab terrorists to travel with illegal workers and import and export explosives and weapons with little surveillance. Once a terrorist takes the trail to Arad to the south or the Dead Sea to the east, he is free to travel to the heart of Israel.
The separation fence currently ends adjacent to a no-man's-land area that has been farmed for 10 years by Jewish resident Yaakov Talia. The area is disputed, and the Arabs recently won a battle in the campaign when IDF Central Commander Gen. Yair Naveh signed an order giving the Arabs control of part of it.
The army has also issued orders barring Israelis from the disputed location. Arabs of Judea and foreign leftists are permitted to enter, but Jews who wish to protest the land grab are kept out.
Arabs and foreign left-wing "peace activists" overran the land on Tuesday, planted hundreds of olive trees and herded sheep in order to stake a claim to the area. Headed by the Arab group Taayush, they then continued beyond the disputed land and destroyed shrubs and grains on land that is recognized as part of Talia's farm.
Talia, who has been burglarized several times, asked the army and police to call the Civil Lands Administration to arrive and confirm that the land belongs to Jews. More than two hours later, Lands Administration officials still had not responded to the call to stop the incursion, and the trespassers and vandals finally left of their own accord.
The partition separation fence in the area envelopes Gush Etzion and the area from Hevron southward to Yatir on three sides, leaving open the entire eastern flank from Yatir to Jerusalem.
The government had planned to extend the separation barrier eastward toward the Dead Sea, but environmentalists recently succeeded in convincing key Knesset Members to oppose the project. However, the plan has not yet been shelved, and if the fence is built on the land displacing the trees and grazing area, the Arabs will be in line to receive millions of shekels in damages. The Yatir area had been one of the quietest in Judea and Samaria until last year when European Union (EU) funds to the Palestinian Authority (PA) financed the transfer of Hevron area Arabs, supported by new vehicles and leftists, to stake out claims in the area.
Talia moved to his farm with his elderly father and mother - native South Africans - in 1996, at the height of the enthusiasm over the Oslo peace negotiations with the Palestinian Authority. American satellites observed that a single trailer home had been placed on the windy and barren hilltop, and diplomats began to ask questions.
The hilltop is within the land allocated for use by the community of Beit Yatir, but the issue landed on the desk of the White House, which removed objections to establishing the farm.
Talia also farmed land outside the fence, where no Arab had farmed except for one resident of Yatta, adjacent to Hevron. He planted barley for two months each year in order to give his sheep food while grazing. However, in the past year, Arabs told the army that the land is theirs. The senior officer in the Hevron brigade accommodated them and established a policy that letting the Arabs have the land will ensure peace and quiet, according to Southern Hevron regional council officials.
Instead, leftists have escorted the Arabs to stage numerous incursions in the area, and both Talia and nearby farmer Yochanan Sharett declared that an army officer told them of intelligence reports that their lives were in danger from Arab terrorists. The farmers have been threatened several times.