Jordan Valley: The war between Palestinians and settlers over grazing lands

Escorting shepherds from Al Hadeida in the area of the Hemdat settlement in the Jordan Valley

We joined one of the shifts accompanying Palestinian shepherds (protecting them against attack by settlers), this time escorting H. and T. from Al Hadeida.  They have a flock of 500 sheep and goats and are afraid to take them out alone to areas they’ve grazed them for years because the army restricts them with illegal claims that it’s a military area.  In addition, settlers who recently established new outposts with “hilltop youths,” lords of the land, threaten the shepherds, harass their flocks and disperse them using ATV’s and dogs.

09:00-12:30   The Palestinians shepherds arrived with their flocks from their encampment, crossed the road and began grazing.  A peaceful, pastoral scene.  T.’s flock moved past a nearby hill while we remained with H. and his 300 sheep.

The area is all green.  The Jordan Valley is blooming with a profusion of flowers and plants thanks to the many rains that fell this year.  The shepherds say they haven’t seen such rich grazing for years.  The flock grazed and munched the flourishing grasses and moved from time to time in order to vary its location and the plants.  We sat with the shepherd who prepared a royal breakfast for us that couldn’t have been tastier in the heart of the landscape – pitas with cheese and cauliflower spread and vegetables, and of course he brewed tea on a fire of twigs and branches.

He talked about the sheep’s habits, and how they train the bellwether animal that leads the flock and ensures it stays together.  He told us the Arabic names of some of the plants and many other things, and also said he fears Menachem, a new settler who moved two months ago next to Hamra with a flock of sheep and prevents Palestinians from grazing in the area.  He harasses them and, along with other area settlers who accompany him, chases them away.  In the past soldiers arrested H., claiming he’s not allowed to graze, blindfolded him and brought him to the nearby army base at Umm Zuka.  They released him a few hours later.  The flock returned to the encampment on its own.  While it was quiet and peaceful here, the evil brought by the lords of the land seethes below the surface.

12:30  We received a call from P., a shepherd from the nearby Samra encampment, that a herd of cows from the adjacent outpost is trespassing on his oat field.

We arrived there at 13:00; the shepherd was already talking to a police officer.  It turns out that a squad car had been returning from the Umm Zuka outpost, which had been erected in contravention of regulations in a nature preserve, but which now receives indirect assistance from the army and the police.

The policeman came down to see what was happening and saw the settler on the Palestinian’s sown fields.  The settler, a youth riding a horse, claimed he had gone there by mistake and even prior to our arrival had removed his herd from P.’s land.  The policeman (who’s new to the area) asked P. why he doesn’t fence his privately-owned land…  Even the Israeli law enforcement personnel are unfamiliar with the laws of the occupation:  Palestinians aren’t allowed to place on their land even a single post, much less a fence in Area C, even if their land is registered in the tabu.

The policemen left and P. told us the settler had lied.  This week he had mistakenly entered the field four times with his cattle.  We stayed to see what would happen.  P. returned to his flock which was grazing nearby.  The settler, Uri, arrived on an ATV but didn’t bother them this time.  He apparently came to talk to the “hilltop youth” who was grazing his herd beyond the hill.

On Sunday, 17.3.19, while shepherds were being escorted, the same settlers and “hilltop youth” came for “revenge.”  They marched into the midst of P.’s flock, which was grazing in the area, and chased it away.  One of our escort shifts that was on site made a great effort to interpose itself between the flock and the settlers, but wasn’t able to.  The police who came refused to accept a complaint and told the Palestinian shepherd that he can file a complaint at the Ariel police station.

The lords of the land, helped by the police and the DCL, succeed in reducing the amount of Palestinian grazing lands and cutting into the income and grazing opportunities of local residents.  There is neither law nor justice, except that of the settlers.