A cold, rainy day.  The yellow lands where Palestinians live have become dark brown, already dotted with the first sprouts of grass.  By contrast, the deep green hues of the settlements have taken on the dreary colors of autumn so that the difference between the two is not as visible as during the summer.  But there’s no fraction of a second in which the burden of occupation isn’t obvious and the weight of oppression unfelt.  You feel it in the air.

Most of the events I’ll describe in this report occurred one or two days prior to our shift, but since they were very serious they’ve had a grave effect on residents of the northern Jordan Valley.

The earthen barrier  separating the Jordan Valley from the West Bank, which forces the inhabitants to make their way to the checkpoints, has recently been raised higher and huge boulders have been placed there, particularly in the area of the accursed Gochia gate – the gate which doesn’t open.  But the heavy rains washed away part of it and opened gaps in the oppressive wall.

Members of the Darajmeh family, who live at the El Malih junction, telephoned me on Saturday, very worried because their son had been injured and kidnapped by settlers.  We visited the family’s encampment and heard the whole story:  Hilal, who’s 19, and two of his brothers were grazing their father’s herd of cows below the Maskiyot settlement –– on the hill between the encampment where he lives and the settlement.  The occupation authorities – the army and the settlers – have designated this hill, which borders the living area of the Darajmeh family, closed to Palestinians.  When they were 400 meters from the settlement, Rami, the evil Maskiyot security coordinator, arrived with two other settlers and chased the brothers.  Two succeeded in escaping with the herd but Hilal was hit by the settlers' vehicle  and lost consciousness.  He was taken to the settlement and an ambulance has been called.  He was given a glucose IV.  The family, seeing the ambulance arrive, was under great stress and contacted me.  My calls to the DCL were met by “He’s OK, he was frightened by the soldiers and fainted (all his life Hilal has seen soldiers!!!)…but now he’s OK”  “No, no one injured him, we called an Israeli ambulance because we’re humane and take care of the Arabs.”

And if that wasn’t enough, when he regained consciousness they cuffed him and took him to the Tayasir checkpoint and detained him for two hours as punishment, cuffed and in pain, while his only sin, according to the settlers, was to have come near the fence.  He passed four difficult hours held by the settlers and their emissaries, the soldiers.  Today he’s recovering at home; he has severe chest pains and difficulty breathing.  He hadn't seen a doctor because he hasn’t any money, nor would he file a complaint (“Why? What will they do with it?  Nothing.  And then Rami and the settlers will retaliate against us!”)

M. told us today’s harsh story. A 44-year-old man from Bardala found an IDF artillery shell that soldiers had left behind.  Maneuvers were held last week and the residents of Ibzid, nearby, couldn’t get to work or school because there was firing on the road.  He has four children.  He found the artillery shell and tried to cover it with rocks so the sheep and the children wouldn’t find it.  As he was doing so it exploded and killed him.  The army took his body to Abu Kabir for an autopsy and denied there had been maneuvers there.

Almost 50 percent of the Jordan Valley has been designated a firing range.  Only a small fraction of that area actually is used for maneuvers, which are always held near where Palestinians live, and where they’ve lived since long before 1967 and to this day, despite all Israel’s efforts to expel them.  Sometimes the firing occurs directly over their heads and scars the children irremediably.  In other cases a locality or hamula is ordered to evacuate the area for one or two days and they must gather the sheep, the children, the women, the ill and the elderly and sit by the road until they’re allowed to return, in the summer heat and in the winter cold.  Last week, for example, the residents of Ras al Ahmar were ordered to leave for a day and a half.

And worst of all, the army, when it’s finished, leaves much ammunition behind, including live shells and bullets.  Children and shepherds often find them and are killed or seriously injured.  M. showed me dozens of photos of shells and explosives, ammunition belts and other items which he’d found during the past year.  When he asks the army to remove them before a disaster happens they respond with disdain.  In truth, Palestinian lives aren’t worth the effort required by the occupation army to clean up after itself.

M. says four people were injured this year, most of them children.

The checkpoints moved people through relatively quickly, but at Ma’aleh Efrayim, which hasn’t been manned in recent months (though there are always soldiers in the adjacent emplacement), there were two soldiers today, at 14:45, in the pouring rain and freezing cold; they’d decided it was the right time to harass the Palestinians;  perhaps they’d been ordered to do so.

There were Border Police soldiers at the Tapuach checkpoint but we haven't seen them stopping Palestinian cars for inspection.