Mr. ‘S’ has been living in a cave with his 2 wives and 13 children for eight years. The cavernous and dank hole in a hillside was their only home after the Israeli government demolished their 1260 square-foot house in 1999. The military operation was conducted after the family had spent only one night in the house.
The only reason given was that they were too close to the Hagai settlement and adjacent military post.
The ‘S1′ family has owned the land just south of Hebron for hundreds of years, long before any settlement building began. Mr. ‘S1′ divides his time between working as a laborer, attending to his small flock of sheep, and growing flowers and vegetables. The new home is almost complete but Mr. ‘S1′ is keeping the cave ready in case the army swoops down again bringing the bulldozers of destruction.
The demolished home of the S1 family
The cave where the family lived for 8 years after their home was demolished.
The completed exterior walls of their new house.
The completed interior walls.
Mr. S1 and three of his children.
