09:15 We left Rosh Ha’ayin in pouring rain.
10:00 Tapuach junction
Three soldiers at the bus stop. No soldiers on the plaza. Soldiers at every bus stop along Highway 60.
10:15 Turmous-Ai
At the entrance we already see that the “Price Tag” hoodlums have been here: A Star of David is sprayed on a green garbage bin, with the words “Jew Job” - a really pathetic provocation. A wall decorated with glorious color murals leads to the main street of the well-kept town. Signs on the main street: shipping sacks of olives abroad - $29. Stores and small workshops are open. The place is bustling.
At the municipality we meet A., the town’s engineer. He tells us that one month ago settlers attacked residents who were planting olive trees and uprooted the young shoots. That’s nothing new, of course: on our previous visit a few months ago residents brought us to a distant area to see first hand the settlers’ vandalism of newly-planted olive shoots. Regarding the olive harvest: unlike in previous years, settlers from Shiloh and Shvut Rachel aren’t crossing the fence around the settlements, so the townspeople can harvest their crop peacefully. The engineer thinks the change occurred since the American and British ambassadors visited the area. Their presence, and their investigation, offers a form of immunity against harassment. On our way out of town, by the side of Highway 60, we can see a lovely vineyard the settlers planted on land belonging to the townspeople and a large sign providing directions to the nearby winery. Thus, , the settlers are developing the winery they’re so proud of on stolen land.
11:30 Luban a-Sharquiyya
Its proximity to the highway ensures continual harassment by the settlers. They tell us, almost in real time, about a settler’s violent attack on a village family.
We’re taken to the home of M., a villager. A young man sits before us, marks of the trauma he underwent clearly visible on his face. He and his mother, sister and brother left this morning to pick olives on the family’s land. When they’d finished they’d intended to load the sacks on a cart parked 50 meters from the road. Suddenly they were fired upon by a settler, who stopped his vehicle on the road opposite them. They took cover behind the cart, and when it seemed the danger had passed continued to load it. And then again they found themselves exposed to a volley of bullets. M.’s brother was saved by a miracle when a bullet passed millimeters from his head. Like at Turmous-Ai, residents of Luban a-Sharqiyya were also able to harvest their olives this year without being harassed by the neighboring settlers. But a single settler on a crusade of cold-blooded murder is enough to wipe out an entire Palestinian family whose luck had failed them.
As we know, Highway 60 has been the source of multiple harassments of residents of villages along the road. Luban a-Sharqiyya has suffered particularly. Twenty days ago about one hundred settlers rushed there from the highway. They entered the village and damaged vehicles. Villagers, organized in a civilian defense force, confronted them. The army arrived, fired tear gas - at the villagers, of course - to separate the contending sides. Some time ago settlers set fire to a gas station belonging to the villagers. Attacks on homes on both sides of the road have become routine. Residents are also prevented from reaching their lands, their crops are uprooted, their sheaves of grain burned after harvesting.
13:00 We returned on a side road parallel to Highway 60, from which we could see the new construction at Rechalim. The distance from the closest buildings at Rechalim to the village of Yatma is only 200 meters.
13:15 Tapuach junction
A solitary soldier at the plaza, a Border Police vehicle parked on the side. Two soldiers at Hars junction and two other among the trees. Sewage is streaming again from the Barkan industrial zone.
13:45 Back to Rosh Ha’ayin.
The “Price Tag” graffiti on the garbage bin at the entrance to Turmous-Ai.