Bardala, Jordan Valley: Settlers and their cows destroyed Kh's watermelon crop worth 50,000 shekels
Two escorts were sent to Bardla after we received a call from M. a farmer who owns 40 acres planted with fruits and vegetables. He showed the visitors his field of watermelons, which had been raided by settlers from the nearby outpost the previous day with their herd of cows. The cows had trampled and destroyed the entire crop in the 1-acre field and there was nothing left but the rinds. The crop was worth an estimated NIS 50,000. M. stopped the laborers’ work because there was nothing left to harvest. The volunteers documented the damage to report to the police.
The morning passed without any disturbances, as is usual on Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath wherever the volunteers accompany the families. The settlers are resting.
The disturbances began in the afternoon as expected. At 3:30 in the afternoon nine settlers came down in three groups from Bentzy’s nearby farm. One group entered S.’s farm near Ein El Hilweh, and the volunteers managed to hold them off until they were forced to leave. They received another urgent call from K. that the other group of settlers had arrived. By the time the volunteers came the settlers had disrupted things for a third time and had stolen his donkey. The volunteers were called again to S.’s encampment. The first group of settlers came, beat one of the women and broke a phone belonging to another. When the volunteers arrived they saw what was going on from the other side of the encampment. The Palestinian women were enraged and did not wait for the volunteers to arrive. They and began to gather sticks and stones to fight their attackers. This was what the settlers were waiting for and they began to photograph them, claiming the women were attacking them and notified the army and the police to come and arrest them
The army arrived quickly and the soldiers were about to arrest the young women, but they began to cry and scream, and the officer in charge finally resorted to only giving them a warning and threatening to arrest them the next time.
At the same time a third group of settlers was rioting on the other side of the road near Ein El Hilweh. They entered F.’s house, but he was in the pasture with the flocks. Only his wife was at home and reported that they had attempted to steal a calf. She ran to stop them and fell, and was injured. The calf was not stolen, but the settlers entered the house and stole a large flashlight. They then approached the fifth shepherdess who was alone in the house. They entered and ransacked the house. Another two volunteers arrived and saw the settlers running away and going down to the spring to bathe with their friends from the other group who had stolen the donkey.
Meanwhile the owner of the donkey arrived at F.’s house and reported that the donkey had run away and arrived in Farsiya. He asked us to take him there and we took him there. Two settler youths got there before we did and stole the donkey again.
We went back to the spring where the police had arrived. The settlers gathered around the policemen and the settlers gathered around the policemen. They decided to arrest the women from S.’s house. We approached the policemen and asked them to inspect the houses that the settlers had raided in addition to stealing. The policemen refused, saying that if we had not actually seen what had occurred and if we had no photos to prove it they could not take action. However, they were willing to meet Bentzi’s demands, who was accompanied by Shai Igner from the Regional Council. They returned to S.’s house to arrest the women as the settlers demanded, After a half hour they left without them. .
While this was going on two volunteers accompanied A. in the pasture. Unlike last week things were quiet.
During the night shift volunteers remained in Ein El Hilweh as a protective presence around the clock. The residents were afraid the settlers would come back. At midnight an AT crossed the area in Farsiya and almost ran over a volunteer wo was standing outside. The police and army were called, but they refused to do anything and suggested we notify the police in Binyamin because they would not accept complaints on site
The rest of the night passed without incident.
Location Description
Bardala
See all reports for this place-
A relatively large township in Area B in the northern part of the Valley, home to about 300 families of farmers and other families. The villages of Bardala and Kardala, located nearby, sit on a very large reservoir of groundwater. In 1968, an "agreement" was signed between the occupier (represented by the Mekorot water company) and three villages (including Ein al-Bida), stipulating that in exchange for their agreement to stop pumping water their wells, Mekorot would establish its own pumping stations on their land and allocate them a "generous" quota of waterinfo-iconfor at the cost of pumping only (a few cents per cubic meter). Over the years, Mekorot violated the agreement, decreased the quotas drastically (from 240 cubic meters per hour to 100 and sometimes 40 cubic meters), and quadrupled the price. The residents refused to pay, and the PA paid for them. In late 2024, the army began paving a new road around Karbala and Bardala. According to the plan, the road will surround and Karbala from the south and Bardala from north and west, and finally turn east to Highway 90. The road will completely surround Bardala on all sides, cutting off the village from all its lands and imprisoning the village within its boundaries. The residents will no longer be able to come and work their lands freely. Our friends were unable to see the roadworks because the army had set up a checkpoint on the road to the new route.
Jun-21-2025The boys go down to the shepherd's S. living area (Photo Eran Maoz)
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