Accompanying shepherds in Hamra
We accompanied the shepherd M. and his flock today, near the Hamra colony in the northern Palestinian Jordan Valley.
M. Stayed home in order to host a visit by “Women for Peace”, and sent us to graze the flock with his brother. Nurit and Tommy are new at this, Tommy has already joined the activity, and for Nurit this is a first time.
As the veteran of the bunch, I explained to them the purposes of the accompaniment, rules and codes which we try to keep, as well as some background information about the specific community and its hostile environment.
Around us the flock of Z. was grazing too, the 13-year-old cousin of M., usually in our field of vision.
After a few rainy days, the area is green again and the flock enjoys plenty of fresh green grass. We climbed high, but did not wander off too far to the south.
Fortunately, the day went without any special events.
Jordan Valley
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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.
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