Quiet shepherds accompanying in Samara
It was a calm, quiet day – luckily there are some of those too
We came in the morning, as planned, to Fauzi’s encampment. After a nice breakfast, we went out to graze with the flock. This time we arrived at an area that lies along the fence of a nearby Israeli army base. It’s an area usually not grazed because the army, as the shepherd told us, would chase them away. Because we joined this time, the flock could graze there. And indeed, there was plenty of hay and straw that the animals love to eat. Slowly we progressed along this grazing ground until we returned to the flock’s dwelling at noontime.
Before we returned the sheep got the water which was pumped for them with exhausting labor – from a well on the way. The pumping is usually done by letting a pail with a rope fall into the well, taking up the pail every time and pouring its content into a trough. The shepherd pulled up the pail dozens of times – very exhausting work. The sheep and goats were glad, and so was the donkey that joined us all the way.
Jordan Valley
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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.
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