Jordan Valley: Protective presence in 44 grades centigrade heat in a-Duyuk a-Tahta
There, on a roof top in a-Duyuk a-Tahta at a seething hot noontime, watching settlers’ bulldozers as everything went black, I suddenly thought that this was not how I would like my life to end.
We got there only at 12 noon because the person who led me to this god-forsaken place was late, and we entered one of the shops at Al Auja to get some toys for the children.
There were two bulldozers working there, getting out the rubble of a house the residents had demolished some weeks ago themselves (along with water tanks and the fences of the neighboring houses).
I and another activist situated ourselves on one of the roof tops in the sunlight, without a bit of shade in 44 grades centigrade, while Nava and another activist walked some few hundred meters to another house. We were all watching so they would not suddenly decide to demolish more houses in the neighborhood.
Everything went well, and at 3 p.m. we walked in the heat to a house farther away where my car was locked behind an iron gate. When we got there, we recalled that we had no idea how to contact the owner of the house so he could open it, but loud knocks on the hot iron summoned him and he opened, only after finding out, scared, that we were on his side…
From there we proceeded to Ausaj, where we had visited a week ago and found a single family at a dry hot area, people chased out of Ras al Ein, and the settlers had already erected a new outpost near this lone compound. We brought much food because last week we found a family nearly starved. But this week even more than the last, we discovered a charming family to be visiting – one of whose daughters was just finishing her studies at the university in Ramallah while the other had just graduated high school. In Palestinian society, graduation is celebrated widely, often with fireworks and refreshments just like weddings, with the graduates wearing cap-and-gown apparel like students graduating college in the US. The graduating daughter brought each of us a celebratory sweet. She too has registered in the university next school year.
During out visit, she was embroidering a fabric, and when asked told us that she and her mother sew and embroider dresses for girls and women, and they gave us some beautiful samples. (In the photo I model a Palestinian dress sown and embroidered by the mother).
What do you think? Can such a dress be sold to activists or just simply to women who appreciate beauty?
From there we continued to Jiftlik, and met with the family of A., the girl born paralyzed, and set a date to take her to Alin in Jerusalem for comprehensive checkups – the girl will be 6-years-old in two weeks, has not been treated at all, and we hope to teach the mother and grandmother how to care for her with the help of Vered, a wonderful physiotherapist who takes care of Palestinian children voluntarily when she is not working at the hospital.
We went on with a short visit to Z.’a and his family and finally, at 8 p.m., we reached Hussein Dawabsha whose family was murdered by settlers when their home was incinerated. He has been raising his grandson who survived this with hard burns of the fire. I ordered several olive oil bottles and we came to collect them, and as always, he seated us in his yard over tea, in the cool evening air of Duma. We heard him tell us how one sheep (of his ten) died in torment after birthing, together with the twin lambs she bore.
We got home at 10 p.m. after a long day and with heat stroke. (The report has taken time because I was ill with heat stroke and had to fly abroad to work while ill with fever. I have not yet recovered, nearly two weeks after the fact. Conclusion: I must learn to limit myself before collapsing…)
Location Description
Al-Jiftlik
See all reports for this place-
A large Palestinian area in the Jordan Valley (in Israeli-controlled Area C), which includes a town located on two main roads: Highway 57 leading from Nablus to Adam Bridge and Highway 90, Israel's eastern longitudinal highway. Some of its residents are Bedouin who were expelled from the Negev in the 1950s. MachsomWatch women have been in regular contact with the Bedouin communities in the area for many years.
A special connection was formed with the Kaabna family, who, following the demolition of their home in 2017, fled to the village of Hadidiya, and experienced a terrible tragedy along the way. In 2019, they were expelled again from Hadidiya under threat of demolition and returned to Jiftalik.
Jiftalik is the only village in the Jordan Valley for which Israel prepared and approved master outline plans in 2005. All of them were prepared without the participation of the residents and restricted construction and development in the village to a limited part of its area, thus many demolitions are being carried out there.
Because of an inadequate water system, residents are forced to purchase water in tankers, and all requests for the construction of a reservoir have been denied.
-
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.
Rachel AfekAug-13-2026Jiftlik: A. was born with spina bifida
-
