Meitar checkpoint: as if everything was routine. Suddenly, two illegal workers, surrounded by Border Police fighters and a woman soldier with a drawn weapon, who had been caught there and taken back across the fence … which is  again open … We have already said that the town of Chelm…

We drove to Umm Fakra to Fadel Hamamda and his family: they live, like their neighbors from a-Rakiz, and Sh’ab al-Buttum, in the hills between Havat Maon, Mitzpe Abigail and Mitzpe Yair, the illegal outposts which receive security, infrastructure and everything needed for their growth from a country which tells the world that they are not extending the settlements and is engaged in ethnic cleansing. Fadel tells of a new settler who lives not far from him and  who today, two hours earlier, had come with his dogs which they set on his flock. For the past two weeks, the settlers from Havat Maon in the southeast have been joining the people of the Mitzpe Yair in the northwest.  They come with masked faces, sometimes on foot and sometimes in a vehicle. They come to frighten the Palestinians. He does not have a camera so he cannot show this. This is in addition to the demolition order that the white building we were sitting in has received. He is being treated by the organization St Yves, which is legally protecting him, and in the meamtime the trial cate is constantly postponed, so at the moment there are no demolitions.

Then we went to see the settler from a safe distance (his name is not yet known). So the method is such that you first build a shed with sheep, then a caravan, this time a bus that has been converted into a home. I wonder when, if at all, they will be thrown out. There we saw them walking around and we heard the sheep bleating. But we did not come close. They are very violent, we were told. We need to follow up on this.

On the way back I photographed the Avigail spring, where the settlers make sure only they bathe in. From the outside it’s a cave. I did not go into itand I saw only a little moisture.

And we also saw Mitzpe Asa’el. All the new caravans that were on poles, are now covered with concrete and cement and have the look of permanent homes.

A concrete mixer rose on the road leading to Mitzpe Abigail. It is clear for what purpose.

South Hebron Hills – we have to watch what is happening.