We drove with the mukhtar of the north to Hamam El Maliach, to visit the family that is still there. I unloaded the car with all the clothes and other things I’d brought. The other families that lived there until last July have been expelled or left after a night of violence perpetrated by the army and settlers, when sheep were slaughtered.

Next to the old Turkish fortress further along the road, lives an extended family of three families of second-generation sons. One of the families has a nine-year old daughter with a disability due to lack of oxygen at birth and she is in very poor condition. She needs diapers and receives a massage every day from her mother. Obviously, there is no assistance from the Palestinian Authority or anyone else. I have a not unfounded feeling that they are looking for someone to support the girl.

we moved on from there to El-Farisiya for a shift of the protective presence (round-the-clock presence with shepherd families). The morning and afternoon passed peacefully. Later on, towards evening, cars with settlers arrived for a round of fearmongering throughout the northern Jordan Valley, through the villages, close to villagers’ homes. Fearmongering for its own sake or in preparation for what would happen in the coming days? No way of knowing.

This country can’t sit still for a moment without some evil round among the neighbors.

Coffee in Samara with four nice young men, who try to explain to me about belief in God, customs, and traditions. And to say thanks for the help (scholarships) with their studies. One of them is already an unemployed computer engineer, the others are students of rural economics, and there’s a high-school student who for sure will be a doctor. No one wants to be a shepherd for the rest of his life.