From Yoav Toledano (husband of our friend Nava) we received very strong canvas sheets formerly used for signs of his mushroom business which had to shut down due to the war. We hard a fascinating lecture from him on growing mushrooms and had a hard time leaving.

On our way to the Fasail springs, we noticed that the Jawarish gate was open, and that more and more Aqraba land is now tended by colonists with increased presence of the Israeli army, that the Qusra gate is still closed since October 7^th, and that the Qusra inhabitants are under siege in their village.

Upon entering the springs, we saw a group of about 100 haredi children (all with long side-curls and waving tassels, 8-10 years old) marching with their two teachers towards the springs. In answer to our question, one of the teachers said they live in Ma’ale Efrayim colony and came from there on foot (a distance of about 10 kilometers). Very appreciative, we continued our way to the springs to see whether the colonists from Mal’achei HaShalom blocked – again – the ditches leading water to the pipe to Fasail, or punctured the pipe themselves. Everything was in order and water streamed merrily an would quieten the Fasail inhabitants’ thirst once very 4 days. As usual, we say deer on our way, that have been growing numerous lately with the absence of sheep flocks, as the colonists backed up by the soldiers prevent the flocks from grazing anywhere.

We continued to Bardala and entered the local council building. Tamar Goldschmidt informed us (courtesy of the Arabic media) about a road the army is building that is meant to bypass Bardala and Kardala in the northern Palestinian Jordan Valley, thus completely blocking the villages and confiscating a large area of land. We met several firefighters at the council as well as their chief. They welcomed us heartily and immediately called the head of the council who came to meet us. He confirmed that the army is paving a new road around the two villages, from the Separation Fence in the north all around each village in the west, and finally turns eastward all the way to Road 90. It will completely surround the village on all sides and disconnect it from its lands, caging it in. We could not drive to see the work on the road because the army placed a checkpoint on the way to the new route. The head of the council took us around to a high hill from where we could watch the work. Large bulldozers worked on a long route west of the village marked by rocks with a deep ditch at their side, close to the village houses.

There is even a concrete structure with holes placed low in the route to let water through. On our way we also saw metal pipes all cut (by the army) that had brought water to the fields close to the road. The fields themselves, that had already been plowed, would no longer be sown for lack of water. In general, the villagers will no longer have access to their fields. During the entire tour the man was very tense. He was afraid the army would come and arrest him for getting so close to the new route.

We passed his phone number together with all that information to Dror Etkes who sent us the map of the planned route.

We brought the canvas sheets to Khalat Makhoul and Al Hadidiya. At Al Hadidiya we sat with Abu Saker to talk about the situation. We saw the shanty he had built for his daughter Sumud, with a desk, worn out rugs and a bookcase. She is studying for her matriculation exams and means to go to medical school. For the first time ever I had to knock on a door in this region… for Sumud must not be disturbed. She is studying!

M. at Hamra already sees a crop of strawberries, and – how couldn’t he? – a demolition order for the tent he put up in order to plant new strawberries. The excuse this time – destruction of antiques. Apparently close to his home (that already has a 3-year-old demolition order) is an archeological site. Tamar Berger and I mean to look into this with experts, whether M.’s home and farming even hurt the site. The Civil Administration has issued many demolition orders lately (and is busy demolishing many homes) with the excuse of destruction of antique findings, and speaking with Hemi from “Archeologists for Human Rights (Emek Shave) we learn that often there are no antiques in places that have been destined for demolition. A talk with Advocate Itai Mack informed us that the chance to annul this order legally is practically null, but still, M.’s farming project is so worthy that we wish to struggle for it as much as possible.