Al Farsia: Israeli peace activists protect day and night the pastoral communities attacked by settlers

In the Palestinian Jordan Valley, as in all the occupied territories, there is severe economic hardship to the point of starvation. The Palestinians cannot work, a large number of the villages and the towns are blockaded, olive harvest is prohibited and their economy is at an effective standstill since 7.10.23.

Nobody has been able to sell produce in the Valley for the past 2 months; majority of the shepherds do not graze their flocks due to the violence perpetrated by the settlers, as well as the inferior quality of the grass. They need to buy food for their flocks whilst there is no livelihood. Quite a few communities gave in and departed their land. They moved to Zone A, in the Palestinian Authority’s area.  These consisted of 15 families near the Hamra settlement, 2 families near Ein El Hilwa, 3 families at the north of Samra and one family in Farsiya.

None of the herding communities in the valley have sold meat and dairy produce in the two months since the war began; Most of the shepherds don't go out to graze at all because of settler violence against them. Since there is no grass in the fields now, they are forced to buy dry food for the sheep when they have no livelihood from any other source. Some communities broke down and left. Moved to Area A in the Palestinian Authority: 15 families near the settlement of Hamra, 2 families in 'Ein al-Hilweh, 3 families in northern Samara and 1 family in al-Farsiya. This is the main purpose behind the settlers' abuse: to get them to leave.

Farsiya is one of the communities in the North of the Valley selected for violence by the settlers. 5 families live near the Alon Road, their livelihood consisting of all aspects of herding sheep, both milk and meat. In 2016, an illegal outpost was established to the west, and ever since the inhabitants of Farsiya were effectively expelled from pasture (grazing) on top of the mountain. Having no choice, they take their flocks north of the outpost; however, a new Yeshiva is being established in a large newbuild structure, and the whole area is fenced off. Consequently, the shepherds cross the Alon Road eastwards, for grazing on a very restricted piece of land; above it sits the Rotem settlement, an “ecological” settlement, which supposedly concentrates on guarding the quality of the environment, yet harm the human “environment” mercilessly, though the latter existed there many generations prior to the new settlement.

The settlement’s security co-ordinator of the settlement (Rotem) and his son Gilead incessantly attack the shepherds, and with the assistance of the IDF drive them out of this tiny piece of land where they can still, just about, feed their flocks. Consequently, we, the Jordan Valley Activists, organised ourselves to a “protective presence”, we remain in the community in shifts, accompany them when they go to pasture, and stay the night too.

Due to the community being in a very poor economic situation we realised that we cannot add to their hardship by dipping into their limited supplies. We therefore collected donations, and each week we bring boxes of food to the families who offer us their hospitality.

We approached an Israeli Palestinian activist from Tira, near Kefar Saba, who organised a special deal, at a significantly reduced price, in a supermarket in his, town (Tira). We filled up our car, we drove through Ramat HaKovesh, where 2 women ( who have been volunteering in agricultural work in the vicinity of Gaza) provided us with boxes of cucumbers and peppers and off we went.

We drove to the Valley through the long route, through Beit Shaan. This is an enormous assistance to these impoverished communities – both food and a variety of powders, from washing powder to milk powder, as well as nappies to those who need them. We divided the produce into boxes up front, so as to prevent a run on.

Before our arrival, an Israeli Area activist brought 5 pairs of children’s bicycles, but sadly, the competition over them was tough, including physical fights. When order was restored, riding became a source of supreme fun, despite the rocky and sandy terrain. All the children asked for bikes…but the recipients were only boys, whilst the girls stood to the side, giving their brothers yearning looks, since they were prohibited from riding. In due course, we made a group decision not to bring anymore bikes, since there would never be a sufficient number, and jealousy and disputes would cause greater harm than joy.

At 6pm one of the Palestinian activist got us a message to say that settlers gathered at the Ein al-Hilweh junction and were attacking Palestinian cars and drivers. By the time we got there, however, the junction was empty and calm. The “event”  had ended.

We returned to Farsiya, and whilst the active group remained in the encampment settling for the night, we drove back home  to Israel through Maale HaGilboa. This route takes twice as long as crossing the West Bank east to west, but due to the tense situation we decided not to take a risk by travelling through the occupied territories.