Settlers of Ein Zuka harass Palestinian shepherds each night
Settlers from the illegal settlement of Ein Zuka come down to Samra each night and harass Palestinian shepherds and their families.
Fasayil
We came to visit two families whose homes have been demolished by IDF forces several times during the past year. The camp belonging to our friend H. was empty. Evidently they had taken advantage of the month of Ramadan to visit relatives. The other family, a couple with four small children, two boys and two girls, were having an afternoon nap. We were invited into their tent where an air cooling unit was working and it cooled off the area so that it was comfortable. There are power lines close by and they are connected to the electrical system for free. The Palestinian Authority is responsible for paying. The situation regarding the water is extremely inconvenient. They receive water every four days and fill the tank near their tent. The amount of water is enough for the house, but they must buy more water for the sheep from the Fasayil well at the base of the mountain and bring it to the sheep. They cannot bring the sheep to the well like their neighbors from Foka. Their situation is worse than theirs, and they are not considered to be local residents – having arrived 15-200 years earlier after being evicted from where they were living previously. They can only hope that their homes will not be demolished again and would have to wander looking for another place, where they will also be unwanted.
Bardala
We came to Bardala to find someone who speaks Hebrew who could tell us about the water shortage there for a tour for journalists that is being planned for the coming week. This is the third time that we have come to Bardala in the past two months after the irrigation pipes were cut and the crops were destroyed because there was no water. Just two months ago there were green fields of corn with ripe lush green ears, and the fields are now dry and brown. Months of hard work and resources have gone to waste.
Most of the streets in the village were deserted because of the heat and people were indoors resting because of the fast of Ramadan. We went into a grocery store where people told us who to speak with. Many told us about the water problem. There is enough water for people’s houses but not for agriculture. This year Mekorot (the water company) has decreased their water quota from more than 200 cubic meters per hour (as it was two years ago) to 100 cubes per hour. In September people will begin to plant vegetables and if there is still no water they will have to delay the planting until the rains come. We saw one green field of molokheya. Not everything was dry.
Samra
We came to Samra to meet with M., and his family, who will also meet with the journalists. He lives beneath the illegal settlement Ein Zuka and suffers scheming and harassment on the part of the settlers. During the past few months he has been threatened and harassed while grazing his flocks and has now begun taking them near the camp rather than out to the far fields to graze. He is still harassed by residents of the settlement, who are constantly looking for creative ways to harass the Palestinians. Recently they have come near the tent almost every night at around 10:00, blow their car horns, make noise, and disturb and frighten people. M. does not appear to be afraid, but we thought of his wife and small daughters. Why must they live in constant fear of lawless settlers who come at night to harass people, and there is no law that prevents them from doing it?
Location Description
Bardala
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A relatively large township in Area B in the northern part of the Valley, home to about 300 families of farmers and other families. The villages of Bardala and Kardala, located nearby, sit on a very large reservoir of groundwater. In 1968, an "agreement" was signed between the occupier (represented by the Mekorot water company) and three villages (including Ein al-Bida), stipulating that in exchange for their agreement to stop pumping water their wells, Mekorot would establish its own pumping stations on their land and allocate them a "generous" quota of waterinfo-iconfor at the cost of pumping only (a few cents per cubic meter). Over the years, Mekorot violated the agreement, decreased the quotas drastically (from 240 cubic meters per hour to 100 and sometimes 40 cubic meters), and quadrupled the price. The residents refused to pay, and the PA paid for them. In late 2024, the army began paving a new road around Karbala and Bardala. According to the plan, the road will surround and Karbala from the south and Bardala from north and west, and finally turn east to Highway 90. The road will completely surround Bardala on all sides, cutting off the village from all its lands and imprisoning the village within its boundaries. The residents will no longer be able to come and work their lands freely. Our friends were unable to see the roadworks because the army had set up a checkpoint on the road to the new route.
Rachel AfekApr-23-2026Hamam al-Malih: Standing by the ruins of the school (from right): Peretz (volunteer), Omer Bar-Lev, the two lawyers, a fellow volunteer, and a friend of Omer
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Fasa'il
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An old community of shepherds in the Jordan Valley that is located between settlements and is exposed to the demolition of its residential buildings at times by the army and the abuses of the settlers. King Herod founded the city of Fatza'elis in 8 BC, and named it after his older brother, Petzal. The permanent settlement in the place began with Bedouins who migrated to the area as early as the 1950s after being expelled from the Tel Arad area. Over the years, additional Bedouin residents who were expelled from other places in the Jordan Valley joined. Areas that were declared as fire areas or state lands . As part of the Alon plan, a significant part of the lands in the area were expropriated and four Israeli settlements were established on them: Tomer, Gilgal, Fatza'el Netiv HaGdud. Illegal posts were erected over the years. Some of them were authorized during the 7th October War.
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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.Rachel AfekApr-23-2026Hamam al-Malih: Standing by the ruins of the school (from right): Peretz (volunteer), Omer Bar-Lev, the two lawyers, a fellow volunteer, and a friend of Omer
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