Al-Tuba (Masafer Yatta)
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Khirbet a-Tuba
ٱلطُّوبَا Al-Tuba; Tuba | |
|---|---|
Hamlet | |
  Khirbet a-Tuba Location within the West Bank, Palestine | |
| Coordinates: 31°24′25″N 35°10′38″E / 31.406821°N 35.177354°E | |
| State | State of Palestine |
| Governorate | Hebron Governorate |
| Area | Masafer Yatta |
| Elevation | 646 m (2,119 ft) |
| Time zone | UTC+2 |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+3 |
Khirbet a-Tuba (Arabic: ٱلطُّوبَا, also: Al-Tuba or Tuba) is a small Palestinian herding hamlet in the South Hebron Hills, within the Masafer Yatta cluster of communities in the Hebron Governorate of the southern West Bank. Like other Masafer Yatta localities, it lies in Area C under Israeli civil and military control. Large parts of the surrounding area were designated Firing Zone 918 in the 1980s, with residents facing demolition orders, planning restrictions and recurrent settler-related incidents.[1][2]
Khirbet a-Tuba stands at about 646 metres above sea level, at approximate coordinates 31.406821°N, 35.177354°E.[3] The hamlet is situated east of Yatta, among the scattered cave-dwelling and herding communities that make up Masafer Yatta.[1]
History and archaeology
The wider Masafer Yatta landscape (Arabic masāfer, “travelling”) has long supported semi-sedentary pastoralism with cave-adapted dwelling. Families in a-Tuba, like neighbouring hamlets, use caves, cisterns, terraces and small dryland plots typical of the South Hebron Hills.[1]
Tuba is one of the Masafer Yatta villages documented as a settled community of cave-dwellers and herders. Like its neighboring hamlets, Tuba shows evidence of agricultural terraces, cisterns, and stone enclosures in mid-20th-century aerial photography. Generations of families testify to continuous habitation, although the Israeli state has sought to redefine the area as temporary in order to enforce evictions.[4]
Legal–administrative context
Following the June 1967 war, a-Tuba came under Israeli occupation and was included in Area C. In the 1980s, much of the area was declared Firing Zone 918, limiting civilian construction and service connections.[1] Litigation regarding expulsions has continued for decades; in May 2022 the Supreme Court of Israel rejected petitions against eviction for multiple Masafer Yatta hamlets within the firing zone.[1]
Access and services
- Road access: A-Tuba is reached via rough dirt tracks from the At-Tuwani area; humanitarian/NGO mapping notes recurrent access restrictions typical of firing-zone localities.[1][5]
- Water and power: Households rely on rain-fed cisterns and trucked water; electricity is provided mainly by small solar arrays that have faced confiscation or demolition in the area.[1][6]
- School access (At-Tuwani escort): Children from a-Tuba and nearby Maghayir al-Abeed walk to school in At-Tuwani, historically requiring an IDF escort due to repeated settler harassment from the illegal Ma'on settlement and its subsidiary outpost (Havat Ma'on).[7][8]
