Thousands of dunams of Olive tree groves gave been cut down along Road 5, to expose the entire area on the right and left sides of the road and expand it for the colonists’ comfort. Much of the livelihood of many Palestinians is now cut down, but who cares?

We arrived at Marajam around 8:15 a.m. for a Protective Presence, and were sent to the southern part. There, in between private yards, a fence has been put up, stealing much of the Palestinians’ land! N. told us that on Friday, a large group of colonists arrived and all through that weekend raised the fence. They traveled by car that whole Sabbath, back and forth, as “true observers of the holy day”… We have seen them do that on other Saturdays, their tassels and sidelocks waving in the wind, so it was not that surprising.

An hour later a colonist came, not looking like a minor, and less neglected and dirty than we are used to seeing on colonists in these parts. He came with a herd of cattle and they turned to the ancient fig tree near N.’s house, its branches laden with figs and bent very low now. They spent time in its shade, ate the fruit and broke many of the beautiful tree’s branches. On Friday the colonists notified N. that he must not approach the tree for it belongs to them! We watched there for about four hours, so that the colonist wouldn’t suddenly decide to enter one of the houses or hurt us or N.’s wife, who sat at the house entrance and sadly watched her yard being robbed of its fruit.

Around 9:30 a.m. we saw a military bugger on Allon Road, joining two civilian cars. The Palestinians, experienced with colonist and army harassment, realized immediately what the destination was. “They are going to block our way to the village”. The Marajam community, numbering 10 families, has lived for decades south of Duma village. Its homes are built into the hills and one hardly notices them from the main road. Marajam, now a target for colonist harassment, is a small community and its members are often arrested. Colonists come daily from one of the “Peace Angels” outposts, enter Palestinians’ homes and harass their owners. Their children who go to school in Mughayir, about 3 kilometers south of Marajam, now must travel to school for 45 kilometers on road 505, Za’atara (Tapuach) Junction and Turmus Ayya, because the entrance to Mughayir is blocked.

Within 10 minutes, the only track to Duma, the center of life for Marajam’s inhabitants, was blocked. The collaboration of the civilian colonists and the military bugger sends shivers down my spine every time.

At 11 a.m. A. came and together with two volunteers, their hands and a hoe, they removed parts of the rock and dirt pile. It was hard to work this way with one’s bare hands in the seething sun, but they finally managed to make narrow way for a car.

From there we drove to Hamra to visit the Zob’a family whom we hadn’t seen for a while. This family has held on so well thanks to the son’s initiative and recruitment of the entire family, while all other communities have collapsed thanks to the colonists’ crimes. Now it too is collapsing. The strawberry saplings caught a disease, the family was forbidden from taking their herd out to graze although the entire area belongs to them officially, and when they took it out – the criminal colonist Moshe (from the outpost of Hamra) came on his ATV and sped into the herd, shouting “You cannot be here!” Consequently, pregnant sheep aborted. Without grazing, the need to purchase sheep feed is bankrupting everyone. In addition (perhaps a colonist, maybe not – I have no one investigating) has stolen all the water that was in his pool. And that is it. He has no possibility of growing the special grass that grows 10 centimeters in one week.

The State of Israel’s violence towards Palestinians via its messenger colonists is not always physically direct. It is manifested in consistently targeting their livelihood by

various means such as starving the herds, trampling crop-laden fields, denying water and blocking traffic with barriers. It all happens in the West Bank. I no longer know what is worse – starvation or physical violence.