Wonderful weather, the view is amazing, the village is located near the Hamra checkpoint, Moshav Hamra, and next to the Palestinian village of Khirbet Beit Hassan, at the foot of a hill.  As we arrive at the grazing area, after climbing a goat trail, a vast green plain opens up, with yellow thorny plants (whose name everyone except me knows) and shrubs that, previously defoliated, are now a lush green and almost shade giving. 

Further down the plain is a trail ascending to the high mountains which we will not reach. If this plain were devoid of enemies, it could be called Tuscany and be a family vacation area, but the settler family who chose to live beyond the mountain intends that everything will be just theirs, making sure they’re not hindered from taking over this divine territory. And so they constantly embitter the lives of Fadel and the lives of Palestinians in the whole area.

Two days before we got there, the same Moshe managed to bring the army and make them arrest the shepherd for no reason or explanation … They handcuffed him, put a flannel on his eyes and took him to the military base. They did not interrogate or talk, he told me, and in the end they released him, seated him outside the gate, with the eye cover stilll on. Luckily the escorts got there and brought him home.

Today, Fadel sat glued to the cell phone, and his cousin, who was with another herd, also sat, alert, by the cell phone. At that time a Ewe was giving birth to a new lamb. And we two escorts witnessed her bringing the newborn into the new life, licking him all over and gently kicking the side of his body so he rises up.

The grazing passed in peace. Apparently the Sharvit family is also preparing for the holiday. Perhaps scrubbing baseboards and dirty consciences, or preparing gefilte.

Most of the shepherd families in this area came from Samoa in the southern Hebron Mountains, after the War of 67, and most of them were from the same Abu-Kabash clan.

We wished the shepherds Ramadan Karim, made a family visit and returned home to clean and cook.