Masafering testimony:

"It has been three days since settlers broke the lock of a private residential cave in Sarora in Masafar Yatta, and settled there. The next day, the settlers already brought furniture, dry food, barbecue, sofas, and also sprayed the walls with graffiti 'Am Yisrael Chai' and placed a metal Star of David at the entrance to the cave.

The settlers at some moments numbered four and at others ten, threatened to slaughter residents and solidarity activists and shoot those who would approach "their new home". The cave, which belongs to a Palestinian resident, is located close to the village of Mafkara and a main road that leads to other villages in Masafar Yatta. This morning, the settlers threw stones at a car and a pedestrian

They stole agricultural equipment, and threatened the children from Mafkara when they went to school in the nearby village. The cave owner has tried repeatedly in the last three days to reach out to the army, the police and the MATK. At first the army claimed that the settlers were allowed to be there, yesterday evening the MK claimed that it was forbidden and the army issued a closed military area over the area.

Despite this, the settlers continued to be in the cave. Today the army took out another, wider closed military area, and the settlers left for a short time. But later in the day, they returned with construction equipment and began to build a kind of sukkah, an extension to the outpost in the cave.

Despite the private ownership and the closed military area order, the equipment they brought there and the settlers also try to stay and settle in the cave. This is a familiar tactic, bureaucratic torture in order to wear down the Palestinians and discourage them, so that they give up the fight for their land, thereby helping the settlement enterprise and the ethnic cleansing of the Israeli apartheid regime

Location:

Al-Mufaqara (also spelled Khirbet al-Mufagara, Al-Mufagara, or Al-Mufaqara) is a small Palestinian hamlet located in the South Hebron Hills, within the Masafer Yatta area of the Hebron Governorate in the southern West Bank. The village is situated approximately 779 meters above sea level at coordinates 31.40635°N, 35.15052°E. It lies east of Yatta among dispersed cave-dwelling and herding communities that comprise Masafer Yatta. Al-Mufaqara is one of the smaller communities in the area, with a population of around 400 residents. The inhabitants primarily rely on mixed herding (goats and sheep), small-plot dryland farming, and seasonal grazing for their livelihoods

The community faces significant challenges due to its location in Area C, under full Israeli civil and military control, and much of the surrounding area is within Firing Zone 918, a military training zone declared in the 1980s.

The residents of Al-Mufaqara have historically lived in caves, a practice that has allowed them to maintain their way of life despite environmental hardships and the pressures of occupation. However, this lifestyle has also made them vulnerable to displacement, as Israeli authorities have issued multiple demolition orders against their homes, citing their location within a military training zone.

In recent years, Al-Mufaqara has been subjected to settler violence, including stone-throwing attacks on homes and vehicles, and the destruction of olive seedlings and fences in fields near the community Wikipédia. These incidents have contributed to a climate of fear and uncertainty among the residents. Despite these challenges, the residents of Al-Mufaqara continue to resist displacement and strive to preserve their traditional way of life.