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Jordan Valley: Another day of accompanying Palestinian herders

Observers: Guy Hircefeld, Tamara, Shaiya Rothberg, Rita Mendes-Flohr (reporting)
Apr-25-2019
| Morning

Another day of accompanying Palestinian herders near Ein Rashash, above the Jordan Valley, to make sure they will not be kicked off their grazing lands by settlers or the army – eager to claim all of area C for Israel, without any Palestinians.

A beautiful day, the storks circling above, going back home in the north. We laze around in the sun, fantasizing that the settlers from the illegal outpost “Angels of Peace” that Guy Hirshfeld calls “Angels of Death” have taken off for the holidays and won’t show up to harass the shepherds.

We enjoy a breakfast of matzot brought by one of us and pitot, with homemade cheeses, a true multicultural menu, drink sugared tea with our Bedouin hosts, and decide that all is quiet and start to walk back towards our car.

Just then, the all-terrain vehicle appears driven by Elhanan, the ‘responsible adult’ of the outpost, this time with his little son, heading for the shepherds we just left. What does he tell his son, he surely must explain to him why he is chasing away the Bedouin shepherds?

We call the army to report the threat. Of course it takes them a long time to come. Elhanan and his young son have already made it to the shepherds we left, so we start to go down towards the flocks, but we are not so fast. Fortunately, Elhanan does not harass them this time and returns – is it our presence, even though at a distance, or that of his son?

Just as we return to our car, we see the army jeep that we called coming – but by then all is quiet (and we had reported that too to the army), and the flocks are already far away into the valley.

 

  • A-Rashash

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    • A-Rashash was founded by the patriarch of the family, Haj Suleiman, who fled in 1948 from Tel Amal near Tivon. He leased land around the valley from one of the Palestinian residents and raised a glorious family that today consists of three family heads numbering about 100 people, with electricity from solar panels and water that they bring in trailer tanks from Ein Samia. There is no school there and the children attend an elementary school in the village of Duma, which is over the mountain at a distance of about 5 kilometers, and leave when they reach high school.

      The daily life of the residents of the place consists of trying to avoid the machinations and damage of the settlers of the settlements and outposts that surround their village, and to protect the grazing lands of the sheep that remain in their possession. At the same time there is the constant threat of the orders of the civil government carried out by the army. About 3 years ago the residents decided to give up the extensive grazing areas and the access to the Ein Rashash spring and they graze around the encampment and buy feed for the sheep for a lot of money.

      After the outpost hooligans managed to drive out the residents of Ras a Tin, Ein Samia and Kaboun, hence began the severe day-and-night harassment of of A Rashash. Since August 2023, the Jordan Valley activists have been holding 24/7 vigils in the pastoral communities to protect them and encourage them to stay on their land. There are refreshing responses, but not enough to provide the residents with long-term protection. You are Welcome to join.

  • 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.  
      סמרה. בור מים
      Bosmat Hetzroni
      Apr-16-2026
      Samra. Water Cistern
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