On the way, we went up the path to the new outpost built next to Duma, a village that had already suffered appalling violence from the earlier outposts, including the burning of a home with the entire family and young children inside. The outpost borders the village to the north and the State of Israel is digging a road into the mountain, which will surround the entire village and cut it off from its land.

45 degrees Celsius (113°F). The air is scorching hot. Until 4:30 p.m., we sat in the madafa (guest hut in the center of the village, where the activists who come to protect the villagers from settler violence stay). We hoped that the settlers wouldn’t go out in the burning sun and come and torment the Palestinians. We were wrong. Four outposts have been set up around the village and the settlers steal the flocks, spread poison, and attack. Hilltop youth appear every day and try to break into the Palestinians’ homes, while we try to protect them from the criminals.

At 4:30 p.m., we got a call to say that a settler was coming down from the outpost and approaching the village houses. We drove there in the activists’ car and reached the village at precisely the same time as the settler, a youth called Yonatan. He settled himself under the Palestinians’ solar panels and lit a fire to make himself tea. We told him it was dangerous to light a fire under the panels, but he ignored us. We called the police. Four female soldiers arrived and affectionately asked the settler and another one, Dvir, who had appeared in the meantime “How are you? Have you had something to drink?” They refused to order Yonatan to put out the fire. They were evidently trying to please the scumbag hooligans, whom they see as heroes.

When the soldiers left, Dvir turned towards the homes of the village of Samama. We stood in between the settler and the houses and a struggle ensued. He tried to pass us and drive his goats into the yard of the house, and we blocked his way. The settler came up close to each of us, almost physically touching us, and stood inches away from each one of us for some time. We actually felt sexually harassed. All the time, he was mocking us, and our age, and arguing with us. Some of us replied and argued back, which I think was a mistake. Completely unnecessary. It just made things more interesting for him. For a quarter of an hour, he listened to a lesson on Jewish law and economics about Bitcoin and suchlike, and a lesson from some rabbi – something weird about angels and demons. This went on for three hours.

At 7:30, the next shift arrived and we got ready to leave, but we couldn’t start the car. We tried to jump start it with cables from the other car, but then that one broke down too. We called for a third car and managed to start the insubordinate car. All this time the young settler wandered around between us, pushed in, and wanted to help. But his advice and close presence only stressed us more. At 8:30 p.m., we were ready to go and leave the night-shift activists with the settler until he left.

When we began to move, the settler stood in front of the car and wouldn’t let us pass. We were already extremely nervous. We moved ahead slowly so as not to hurt him, but he continued to stand in our way, until another activist arrived and began pushing him away gently. They started fighting and we took advantage of the opportunity and fled.

We went back to the madafa to calm down a bit before driving off. Eventually we reached Tel Aviv at 11:00 p.m.