Jordan valley Dir J`arir: One little battle won today
5.30 am to 9.30 am
Settlers from the outpost of Ma’ale Shlomo, adjacent to the settlement of Rimonim, have been consistently bringing their sheep to graze on land that is cultivated by shepherds from Dir J’rir. Today our presence kept the settlers at a distance – we saw them coming over the ridge, just as the sun was coming up on this hazy, hamsin day, but this time they did not go down into the cultivated valley. Perhaps because we were there, or because we arrived there first.
One of the Palestinian shepherds remarked “why don’t they stay near their outpost, there is so much land around there, whey do they have to come here, in our valley?”. But that is exactly the point – herding sheep in another tactic of settlers to expand their control over the occupied territories – sheep can go far and wide, driving the Palestinians further and further away, so that in the end Area C will be free of Palestinians, which works fine in the eyes of the Israeli authorities, without them having to do the dirty work of expulsion themselves.
Most of the Palestinian herds left very early, on this day that was supposed to reach record temperatures, but the settlers remained across the valley. We feared they would go down into the cultivated fields, and so we stayed on, standing in positions that were clearly visible to them, until, they too started to move away. One little battle won today. But we know they will be back, and so we too will return.
On our way home, we drove by two other cultivated Palestinian fields near Rimonim, to make sure no settler herds were grazing there.
Jordan Valley
See all reports for this place-
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.
Jun-21-2025The boys go down to the shepherd's S. living area (Photo Eran Maoz)
-
