Mufaqara - settlers limit the Palestinians’ grazing area

We drove to Mufaqara with the 4×4, which is the only way to get there now because of the blockades on all the roads since October 7. This is part of the difficult situation we have been reporting on for the past six months. Once again, we loaded the car with food items thanks to your donations and drove to Fadel's extended family. His family and some of his married children's families live in these "houses". There we met a large group of men and women from a Palestinian health organization unknown to us. According to them, they came from Ramallah and Hebron to see the living conditions and bring medicines. We saw that he went to get them.

Fadel said it was the first time they had come to him. Nevertheless, we were happy that there are other organizations that visit there and do something. Fadel says that on Friday the 29th of March, his wife Khadra and 4 of his children were walking with their herd to the pasture, when suddenly 6 settlers arrived and began to stick poles in the hill in front of his house in the place where Abu Hani was expelled from, as we reported a few months ago. Fadel called the police, as they asked him to report. The police did come and the settlers fled. As he continued to graze, two settlers arrived from Mitzpe Avigayil. He was afraid because he saw that "soldiers" were also coming with them. (those settlers wearing uniforms who were given the authority to harm at will without hindrance).

He called the police again. The policemen were still in the field. According to him, the policemen answered him: "We saw them", and did nothing about it. Just walked away afterwards. Nothing out of the ordinary developed, other than the demonstration of their presence.

Even this morning, when Fadel went down with the sheep to graze in the Wadi, two such "soldiers" came, actually lurking, and simply followed him wherever he went because they forbade him to go up to the hill where his lands are also and he is only allowed to stay down in the Wadi. He also has a water hole on the hill and he is not allowed to go to it even though the flock needs to be watered. This is their routine in the last few months.