We planned to take along several politicians with us but they canceled, so instead we went to Fasail in the Palestinian Jordan Valley. We visited T., whose home – like others in Fasail al Wusta – has been caged in with fences. All of Fasail (several hundred inhabitants) has been fenced in by the colonists of Tomer, headed by the security official of the colony, Omri. An entire village fenced in.

Adding insult to injury, that security officially armed with a representative of the DCO arrived at T.’s family and threatened her husband that he would not be able to go on working unless he leaves his home. One must mention that immediately after fencing Fasail in, all the families in the area left, and only T.’s family with five children has stayed. They simply have nowhere else to go.

They told us that since the father has been forbidden to work they have been famished. T. said that this morning she visited a neighbor and a colonist entered the neighbor’s yard. “Marhaba” (good day in Arabic) she said to him politely. He answered screaming: “Don’t talk to me!” and spat disgustedly on the ground, near her foot.

Later we visited G., the water man, who said they have placed a new pipe to direct water from the spring to the village and it would not be blown up by the colonists as happened so far. I doubt if anything will stop these criminals.

We drove to Duma. We saw a rock-barrier on the road between the village and its olive tree groves in the north. People in Duma told me that about two weeks ago, the head of the council got the authorities’ permission to remove the blockage for a single day so that villagers would be able to harvest the few olives that grew this year. The village rented a bulldozer to remove the rocks, and then colonists came running (their outpost is not even near these groves) and beat up the bulldozer driver in the head so hard that he needed to be treated in the hospital. The DCO under colonist pressure annulled its own permission and forced the village to return the blockage.

The two new colonist outposts in Duma are situated in the heart of olive tree groves and their owners can no longer reach them.

We reached one of the communities on the outskirts of Duma, for a “protective presence” shift (staying with the shepherds around the clock). Sharon and ‘Ida were in R.’s compound, and we were situated in the larger compound – 10 families with lots of children. Both compounds were peaceful and we saw no colonists. In order to enter Ab.’s compound one must arrive at a closed gate adorned with barbed wire, honk, and then one of the Palestinians comes with a key and opens up. They said that yesterday colonists came to their compound and threw stones at the roof tops. The children are very scared and any stranger awakes their fear anew. Luckily for us, and for the children, Raia insisted on sticking some toy packages into my car. One cannot describe the happiness evoked by a few cubes, a plastic piano that cannot play, and some stuffed dolls! A 6-year-old girl, attending the first grade, walked around displaying her notebook. We asked to see it, and apparently Huda is an outstanding pupil, reading and writing well. The village pride… She made a drawing for us.

We left at 4:30 p.m.