We drove to Sinjil to see, hear and document the barriers throughout the locality and closure of about 10,000 dunams of farmland since the war breakout in October, of which Irit reported. About a year ago we were there to protect Maqam Abu Al Uf from the flocks of a violent colonist. Today the problems are much more severe.

Our friend A. who knows and photographs every change in the terrain, led us for two hours in all the winding ways of occupation. First on Road 4665, the main road where we stopped every several dozen meters, saw the barriers on roads leading to homes to which there is no way to drive inside the village, and heard their stories. As A. says, every home has a story, every meter has a story.

Since the war began, the lives of villagers have become unbearable. In addition to the difficulty to reach other places in the West Bank from their homes in their cars, the families living close to main roads suffer settlers violence who break into their homes, smash windows, vandalize cars. A. documents, summons police with his testimonies, receives answers that the police have no possibility to find the culprits, although one clearly sees the license plates. But in response, soldiers come occasionally and violently arrest him. Regard him as a terrorist. A great number of these villagers have already escaped to other places. Thus too A.’s family members – only he has remained, out of a 15-person family.

We reached the main entrance of the town where an Israeli military vehicle is parked and occasionally, mainly in the morning when people drive to their work place inside the West Bank, soldiers block passage for hours, even interrogating the passersby.

The mayor welcomed us in the well-tended municipality building. He spoke about the various causes for the economic difficulties facing villagers since October:

1. Closing off about 10 dunams of farmland that supplies the livelihood of 250 families – now fenced off and declared ‘closed military zone’. Forbidding Palestinians to reach this area even during the olive harvest, enabling the violent settlers of Ma’ale Levona and Shilo colonies and their outposts and steal the harvest of 21,000 olive trees there. The villagers are afraid that the settlers will gradually take over the fields in which squash and other vegetables were grown, and now they have already spent nine months without work/livelihood, watching their fields with helpless eyes.
2. Blocking roads and erecting a flying checkpoint on the main road – many of those working outside the town were fired because of absence since the Israeli army prevented them from leaving their locality in time.
3. Damage by settlers who chase people out of their homes. settlers damage homes of villagers, their cars, throw stones, burn, and apparently the army works with them. When Palestinians complain to the authorities, they are told to call the settlers, not colonists, and do not look into these complaints. Neither the police nor the army.

We heard harsh stories about some of the families. Many of the villagers have families outside who help them at least a bit, especially in the US, but this situation will bear disaster.

One sees new construction in the settlements and their outposts out of local windows. At the end of our visit, we covered many kilometers in roads and dirt tracks throughout the locality, and A. pointed out every new road paved, every new caravan or structure on every side. The feeling is that the settlers are closing in on them all around.

The visit ended with an elderly couple living on the other side of the road, who built their home in 1972, after receiving a construction permit. Since the Oslo Accords it must have become Area C, and there are no more permits to be had.