Umm al-Khair

A mural of Awdah Hathaleen in the community center with added writings by friends and family. (Omri Eran Vardi)

A year after Awdah’s killing, Umm Al-Khair struggles for its own survival

The community is facing violent settler expansion and the looming threat of demolition, while the Israeli who shot the beloved activist remains free.

By Basel Adra July 29, 2026

A Palestinian child reads her schoolbook in front of newly erected barbed wire fence bearing Israeli flags, which Israeli settlers put up to block the passage of Palestinian teachers and students from their homes in the village of Umm Al-Khair to their school, Masafer Yatta, occupied West Bank, April 13, 2026. (Mosab Shawer/Activestills)

Despite global outrage, Israel is still blockading our children’s education

It’s been three weeks since settlers fenced off my students’ path to school, trying to show that Umm Al-Khair has no future. We refuse to let them win.

By Tariq Hathaleen May 5, 2026

Photos: Emily Glick, Yonatan Sindel, Abed Rahim Khatib (Flash90)

A year in +972: Editors’ picks for 2025

From nearly 250 pieces published this year, we’ve chosen eight stories that resonated most with our team.

By +972 Magazine December 31, 2025

Latest

Khalil Al-Hathalin, a representative of Umm Al-Khair’s residents, indicates on a map the area of the village threatened by Israeli demolition orders, in Umm Al-Khair, Masafer Yatta, occupied West Bank, October 29, 2025. (Mosab Shawer/Activestills)

In Umm Al-Khair, erasure seems only a matter of time

With demolitions looming and settler violence escalating, our community faces a coordinated push to break our spirit and uproot us from our land.

By Tariq Hathaleen and Ahmed Hathaleen November 20, 2025

Mourners at the gravesite of slain Palestinian activist Awdah Hathaleen, including his cousins Alaa Hathaleen (left) and Tariq Hathaleen (right), in the West Bank village of Umm Al-Khair, Aug. 7, 2025. (Oren Ziv)

PHOTOS: Awdah Hathaleen laid to rest after Israel withheld body for 10 days

Israel finally allowed the burial of the Palestinian activist shot by a settler in Umm Al-Khair, only to disrupt his funeral with checkpoints and restrictions.

By Oren Ziv August 7, 2025

Awdah Hathaleen and his eldest son, Watan, in Umm Al-Khair, the West Bank, March 2021. (Emily Glick)

Israel is holding Awdah Hathaleen’s body. His killer roams freely through his village

On hunger strike to demand his return, Umm Al-Khair's women can't even sleep undisturbed as the army detains the village's men in nightly raids.

By Sahar Vardi and Basel Adra August 5, 2025

Awdah Hathaleen celebrates his 27th birthday with friends, in Um Al-Khair, the West Bank. (Emily Glick)

‘The most peaceful person’: Umm Al-Khair mourns activist slain by Israeli settler

Contrary to the settler’s account, eyewitness testimony and analysis of video footage shows that Awdah Hathaleen was gunned down in cold blood.

By Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham and Oren Ziv July 29, 2025

Palestinian Muslim worshippers wait to cross the Qalandiya checkpoint between the West Bank and Jerusalem to attend the Friday prayer during the holy month of Ramadan at Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem’s old city, April 5, 2024. (Wahaj Bani Moufleh/ActiveStills)

For pregnant Palestinian women, checkpoints are a matter of life and death

When I went into labor, I put off leaving home for hours, fearing Israeli soldiers and settlers. We reached the hospital in Hebron in time, but not all are so lucky.

By Hala H. June 10, 2025

Israeli forces prevent the residents of the Palestinian village of Az-Zuweidin from grazing on their private pastures and arrest three Palestinians, southern West Bank, May 4, 2024. (Omri Eran Vardi/Activestills)

In the West Bank, Palestinian unemployment is now Israeli policy

After October 7, Israel revoked the work permits of more than 150,000 Palestinians. On top of spiraling settler attacks, my village faces financial ruin.

By Haitham S. January 21, 2025

Eid al-Hathaleen stands atop the rubble of his home after it was demolished by the Israeli Civil Administration, Umm al-Khair, occupied West Bank, July 7, 2024. (Emily Glick)

In Umm al-Khair, the occupation is damning us to multigenerational trauma

I saw the first bulldozers arrive in my village 17 years ago. Now, after the most brutal weeks in our history, my son will carry similarly painful memories.

By Awdah Hathaleen July 22, 2024

Chicken inside a chicken barn at the Givat Olam organic farm, near the Jewish settlement of Itamar, West Bank, April 9, 2012. (Nati Shohat/Flas90)

When an Israeli chicken farm has more rights than a Palestinian village

From expropriating our land to poisoning our agriculture, settlement farms serve Israel's goal of forcing us out of our homes in the South Hebron Hills.

By Ali Awad and Awdah Hathaleen March 10, 2022

Haj Suleiman Hathaleen protesting in Masafer Yatta in the South Hebron Hills, West Bank. (Emily Glick)

Israeli police shattered this Palestinian elder’s bones — and drove away

An elderly Palestinian activist is clinging to life after an Israeli police tow truck ran him over. Such violence could befall any of us in Masafer Yatta.

By Ali Awad and Awdah Hathaleen January 11, 2022

Palestinian farmers search the remains of concrete shelters demolished by the Israeli military, A-Tuwani, West Bank, April 2, 2014. (Ryan Rodrick Beiler/Activestills)

We don’t just live through one home demolition — we live through them all

When you're witnessing a demolition, it feels as if the destruction is carrying on for hours. In reality, it takes only a few minutes to dismantle our lives.

By Awdah Hathaleen November 18, 2021