Umm al-Khair, Hebron

Umm al-Khair is a Palestinian village located in the Hebron Governorate of the State of Palestine, in the southern West Bank. It was inhabited by five families, roughly 70 people, in 2008. By 2017, the population of the village was 686. The village is engulfed by the Israeli illegal settlement of Carmel.

History

In 1883, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine noted "piles of stones" at Rujm Umm Kheir.
The Palestinian villagers settled there several decades ago, after Israel expelled them from the Arad desert, and purchased the land from residents in the Palestinian village of Yatta.
In the wake of the 1948 War, and after the 1949 Armistice Agreements, Umm al-Khair came under Jordanian rule.
During the Six-Day War in 1967, Umm al-Khair came under Israeli occupation.
According to David Shulman, the nearby settlement, Carmel, lies on lands confiscated from the Bedouins of that village.
Human rights activists and reporters have criticized the lack of amenities for the villagers while settlers nearby enjoy modern life. According to Nicholas Kristof of The New York Times, in 2010, Carmel is
Hammerman writes as follows in 2011:
David Dean Shulman has taken down the account of one of the villagers, a young man named ‘Id al-Hajalin, who after outlining their difficulties, showed two documents, a receipt for taxes he paid on his land, and another, an order from the Military Authorities to demolish his home. He commented:

“Why do they want to destroy my house? Where can I go? Can I go to America? I have nothing, and they want to take that nothing from me. Can you help me? Where am I supposed to go?”

Umm al-Khair was one of the main subjects of the 2016 book The Way to the Spring: Life and Death in Palestine by Ben Ehrenreich.
Umm al-Khair is also the base community for the Good Shepherd Collective, a grassroots organization resisting the intrusive colonization of local land by Israeli settlers.
In June 2024, a third of the village still standing was demolished as the IDF bulldozed 11 houses, including 5 tent residences, leaving 50 shepherds homeless. They also destroyed electricity generator, solar cells and water tanks.
On 28 July 2025, local activist Awdah Hathaleen was killed by an Israeli settler in his hometown.