Fassayil, Jordan Valley: the villages are under siege and the severe hunger is crippling families

We drove Maryam to Turmus Aya Hospital to receive injections in her eyes as we have been doing every month for the past four years.   The injections have renewed her sight after she became blind. 

On the way we passed the entrance to Maayanot   A week ago we met Hagar with three shepherds and their flocks near Fassayil.  Today there were no shepherds present   We don’t have enough escorts to provide protection for all the shepherds and without Israeli escorts none of the shepherds dare to go to the places where there is grass because the settlers evict them.

After a few hot dry days the green grass has disappeared and turned yellow.

We checked several entrances to villages that have been barricaded until now.   The entrance to Duma has been opened .  There were huge boulders on the side of the road that were left from the barricade that had been removed.   The entrance to Kusra, on the other hand, was closed with a locked  red gate.  The entrance to Isawiyyeh was also blocked with boulders.  How can people live when they are blocked from going out into the world?   

There were a tremendous amount of patients at the ophthalmology hospital  in Turmus Aia.  There were long waiting lines and noise and confusion.  Despite the new modern building the treatment was reminiscent of the 1950s.  Patients register with a piece of paper and a nurse calls patients for treatment while walking up and down the hallway.   The place was chaotic. 

After Maryam’s examination we went into the village to purchase the medication that the doctor had prescribed.   ON the way Maryam complained that her family had no food and were desperate.   They needed vegetables, tomatoes, onions, and garlic,  We went into a vegetable store to buy vegetables for the family.  The owner approached me as I was selecting tomatoes and asked where I was from.  When I told him “from Israel”.  He raised his hands in a gesture that meant “stop” and he refused to sell us vegetables and asked us to leave.  Evidently he thought that we were from the neighboring settlement of Shiloh, whose members had killed a resident of the village a year ago and burned 30 cars and homes in the village.  We explained that we were buying food for a Palestinian woman who had remained in the car, and he then helped us choose vegetables and helped us carry them out to the car.  This was the first time that a Palestinian had ever strayed from the rules of hospitality and attempted to evict me.  Evidently they have reached the end of their patience and were overcome with anger and frustration.  I understood him completely.  It is harder for me to understand a Palestinian who receives me with hospitality after Israelis have killed his son or set fire to his home.

After we returned Maryam home her husband came outside and we planned how to distribute food packages that had been donated by Rabbis for Human Rights.  Their representative will bring packages on Wednesday and Musa will direct him to 70 families who are the most needy.  The packages contain flour, sugar, tea, rice, oil, noodles, and other items.  After six months of closure villages such as Fassayil where people earn their living by tending sheep are suffering from hunger.  Violent settlers from the nearby settlement (ironically called Malachay HaShalonm, the angels of peace) prevent them from herding their sheep and workers who had jobs in Israel can no longer earn a living.