Ma’gheir (Mra’ir)
Along Alon Road, for at least 100 meters on either side, thousands of olive trees lie hacked down—dead and withered under the merciless August sun. The sight brings to mind the thousands of bodies in Gaza, who met their deaths as collective punishment in the Gaza war. The former, as punishment following Hamas’s atrocities; the latter, because someone from Mra’ir slightly injured a settler. Both forms of killing are unlawful and immoral, for the ones paying the price are the innocent. Few understand that all this terrible death stems from the denial of liberty and the right to life of another people.

A deathly silence hangs over the place, and we just want to leave, shivering before this killing field.

Fasayil
The “water man” tells us that at last, the Nature Reserves Authority approved the arrival of a welder to replace irrigation pipes that hilltop settlers had cut. For two weeks—until the long-awaited approval came through—vast amounts of precious water were wasted. Looking up, we saw trucks descending from the hill, from the area of the settlement Malakhi HaShalom, dumping material near the new outpost Mitzpe Michal, established south of Fasayil, near the settlement of Tomer. Presumably, it is being used to pave a road leading down from Alon Road to the settlement.

Ein Hilweh
Five days ago, occupation forces arrived and completely demolished Kadri Drar’meh’s emcampment: all the tents, the cowshed, the sheepfold, and even the single tree. Everything was destroyed, and afterward they dug up the ground and covered the ruins, which still contained money and important documents with dirt, so that the family would not be able to recover them.

The Drar’meh family has lived here for many years. The land belongs to the Catholic Church, and for years there was coexistence—of horse and rider—between them and the settlement of Maskiyot, and even with the violent settlement of Rotem. But since new outposts were established in the area, all Palestinian grazing land has been closed off, sheep and cows were stolen, and calves and cows attacked and killed.

Last month a new outpost, HaDegel (“the Flag”), was built above them, and since then their lives have been unbearable. The peak came two weeks ago, when they were handed a stop-work order—even though no new construction had begun, and everything there had existed for decades. They filed an appeal and were scheduled for a court hearing on 3.9.25, but ten days before the hearing the army arrived with bulldozers and destroyed all their property. There is no law, no justice, and anyone (so long as he is Jewish, of course) can do whatever he pleases.