Jordan Valley: Quiet for the Jewish holiday, routine siege for the Palestinians
We drove along deserted roads. Jewish holiday, the missiles were in the sky yesterday, but the Palestinians don’t know where. The road is deserted, empty, just full of Israeli flags.
The checkpoints are all closed due to the holiday. Actually, they’re closed most days. The machines of war stand still next to the closed gates.
The most prominent feature today is the mud. Mud that sinks you, pulls you down. You can’t escape it.
We are at Samra. The blue tent has been abandoned for the holiday, so our presence isn’t really critical.
The rain that fell will no longer affect the stalks of grain swaying in the warm breeze. Between the mud and the heat, the children spend endless hours playing under our tree. I simply must play the YouTube video for you all.
Although it’s a holiday, settlers descend on Hadidiya and an incident blows up with soldiers, at the end of which a Palestinian is arrested for several hours and dumped in a deserted location.
We’re not there, but we hear about it.
We help making the cheese, arranging the home, playing with the children, and chatting. It sounds like a boring day. But it’s not.
Location Description
Jordan Valley
See all reports for this place-
Jordan Valley The Jordan Valley is the eastern strip of the West Bank. Its area consists of almost a third of the West Bank area. About 10,000 settlers live there, about 65,000 Palestinian residents in the villages and towns. In addition, about 15,000 are scattered in small shepherd communities. These communities are living in severe distress because of two types of harassment: the military declaring some of their living areas, as fire zones, evicting them for long hours from their residence to the scorching heat of the summer and the bitter cold of the winter. The other type is abuse by rioters who cling to the grazing areas of the shepherd communities, and the declared fire areas (without being deported). The many groundwaters in the Jordan Valley belong to Mekorot and are not available to Palestinians living in the Jordan Valley. The Palestinians bring water to their needs in high-cost followers.
Rachel AfekMay-28-2026Samra. Colorful works
-