Settlers have been harassing and wreaking havoc at al-Meyteh, Hamam al-Maleh and Ein al-Hilwe. They chase away flocks grazing at Samra, and are responsible at night for vandalizing property worth thousands of shekels at Hamam al-Maleh.
Ein al-Hilwe, al-Meyteh and Hamam al-Maleh are shepherd communities inhabited by 6-10 families. They are situated from Tyassir checkpoint in the direction of Tubas.
At 7 a.m. there was a call from al-Meyteh – settlers were making the rounds between the houses with flocks and have reached home entrances. Two accompaniers went in their direction and until they got there the settlers had already left. Residents remarked that this happens every day, the settlers do not enable them to graze. They are afraid to clash with them because eventually the settlers make up stories that the Palestinians throw stones at them and then they are arrested by the army.

At the same time, call was received from Hamam al-Maleh, saying a group of settlers with a jeep and an ATV were riding around the stone house where the families live, and on weekdays contains a school for the village children. The volunteers opened a call to the police. When the settlers heard this, they disappeared. Naturally the police never came.

At 9 a.m. a call came from Ein al-Hilwe. Q. said the settlers were beating up his sons herding the flock that had come down to drink water near the house around Khirbet Jamal. By the time the volunteers came the settlers made do with harassment and chasing the flock, and left. The volunteers called the police, who did not bother coming.

All this is meant to create an atmosphere of fear, push the shepherds out of grazing areas and fear the theft of flocks. Shepherds face this with incredible courage. This is their land and they are not willing to leave it, nor their livelihood and commitment to bring bread to the family table. This is justice chased throughout!

Khalat Makhoul:
The entire community is constantly harassed by the boys from Uri’s farm, erected about 10 years ago. It has lately been declared a legal outpost, unlike the international stipulations around Umm Zuka. Uri, the owner, equips the boys with rangers and even arms them. I. was herding close to home and the sheep were eating the growing grass. Around noon, two young settlers arrived on an ATV from Uri’s outpost and scattered the flock, wounding a sheep. The accompaniers arrived quickly and managed to distance the settlers. These summoned the army, who yelled at the accompaniers to leave immediately, claiming they were disturbing, and that this was a firing zone. In spite of the fact that it wasn’t, and certainly not on the Sabbath. The soldiers tried to arrest the shepherd and his son because the settlers complained that they were attacked by the shepherd. He denied this, and claimed that the settlers were the attackers and wounded the sheep. As well as hitting him in the belly and fracturing his arm. The volunteers came close and asked to speak, but the soldiers refused and made them to keep their distance. Finally, the soldiers left without arresting anyone, and the volunteers took the shepherd to a clinic at Ein al Beda. Luckily his arm was not broken and he received pain killers and brought back home.

Samra:
This is a locality with 4 families and children, on privately-owned lands of Palestinians – 100 dunams officially confirmed around Umm Zuka, near Uri’s outpost. They have not been able to graze far because they have been harassed by Uri’s outpost settlers. About two weeks ago, 10 young settlers new to the area came and erected a new outpost shack about 50 meters uphill from the houses of the Palestinian residents. These came out to graze their flock but the young settlers came down with their dogs and made the Palestinians’ flocks run back to their pens. The Palestinian shepherds did not give in and went over to the second hill, but there too, 2 settlers stood and would not let them graze, pushing them back to several dunams on the second hill.
The shepherds did not summon the police, for it does nothing, or alternately arrests them claiming they are the assailants, not the settlers. In the afternoon the shepherds tried to graze again, but were chased from the hilltop to the bottom. Night was not quiet either.
Beginning at 9 p.m., the settlers continued to make the shepherds’ lives impossible. They lit up the indoors with projectors, threw firecrackers and sounded very loud music, among the songs: May your village burn! Thus, it went on until 3 a.m.

At dusk:
At 5:30 p.m., as darkness began to fall, we were urgently needed at Humsa, by Q.
A settler passed there with his ATV. We stayed there but were soon summoned by Z. from Ein al-Hilwe, as the owner of the nearby outpost, Haggai, came with an ATV to her yard. We arrived and saw Haggai speaking with another shepherd. We were asked to keep our distance as this was a private conversation. The shepherd later told us that Haggai returned a cow that lost her way and entered his area, and also warned that if the cows arrive there again, he would confiscate the entire flock.

I and Sarah, the two volunteers remaining in the area, went back to Hamam al-Maleh and at 10:30 p.m., a call was received from the neighbor on the other side of Hamam al-Maleh, about 100 meters from the stone house, as settlers were crossing the path near that house. We came immediately, and discovered 6 young settlers on the trail. We summoned the police. They hid in the dark somewhere, not before entering the tin home of the third, older resident there, throwing his and his wife’s bed things out of the house and chasing them out. The policemen came, listened, and said a complaint should be lodged, promising to come around and make sure the settlers would not harass them.

In the morning, residents of Hamam al-Maleh woke up and discovered the real damage wrought by the settlers in the dark:
They had cut all the barley sacks with a knife between the houses. This was the feed for the sheep who could no longer graze. Damage is in the tens of thousands of shekels.

We left heavy-hearted before day light at 5 a.m. There is no law, no justice, as in the Biblical Judges’ time. But the residents are not willing to give in – this is their land and they will stay on it.