December 13^th – Friday, morning

We arrived at Khalat Makhoul- about 40 volunteers from the whole country – Jews and Palestinians from all over the West Bank, from Hebron, Nablus and Tulkarm under the aegis of Combatants for Peace. We cleaned up trails in which water reaches the water holes, dragged rocks, and got a delicious Maklouba for our light efforts. Then, at B.’s, owner of the placed, enjoyed tales of the hamlet, its hardships and troubles. The greatest today: the rain isn’t coming, who knows if the water holes will fill up…

Noontime:

I got to Al Farisiya. Members of the noon shift were already there, staying overnight since yesterday. The day passed with the usual routine: coffee, tea, meals, family rounds, games with the children. In the evening, we sat together with the villagers around a tire containing firewood. The evening was cold.

Night:

Passed quietly, we hoped the day would be quiet too.

In various places it was so, indeed. Thus, grazing with A. at Farisiya finished when shepherds returned at 1:30 p.m., as well as with N. who returned at 3 p.m.

Saturday morning, December 14^th

At 9 a.m. we received a phone call, that the cattle flock belonging to an inhabitant of the Tyassir area was stolen. All of it. 25 cows that were in a corral about 500 meters from the house. Only 5 cows were left, that had been near the home, to be milked for the family.

The owner and his son came to us to Farisiya, to show us the photos and ask for help looking for the flock, which as rumors had it, was in the Asa’el outpost. We notified the police who registered the event and came after about an hour.

They killed time by asking us how we knew the flock was with Asa’el and such. We answered the cows were of a different kind both in color and in body structure. Ophir, the policeman, agreed to the Asa’el outpost but without us, to protect the public if, God forbid, a conflict with the colonists would evolve. The police came into the colonists’ farm but said there were no cows there.

In the meantime, the owner and his son, following various rumors about the possible location of the flock, wanted to patrol the area. There was no terrain vehicle around who could drive and look. At 2:30 p.m., an activist with such a vehicle came and we rode. We searched the entire area for about two hours. No traces of the flock. We suggested that the owner lodge a complaint, but he is afraid that sometimes the resulting arrest is of the complaining Palestinians! B. decided to continue looking into this on the morrow. We painfully took our leave. So sad, all his property simply stolen!

Night:

After supper and tea and coffee, we sat around the fire. Volunteers of the night shift arrived with plenty of clothes and tables which they proceeded to give out by ‘lottery’ to all the women and children of the place. Then R. taught the women to use chat, they created a Whatsapp group and wrote something positive about each other. They all enjoyed her. Finally, we retired for the night. Another couple (including myself) went to sleep at F.’s, a shepherdess who live with her son near Maskiyot colony and suffers from the colonists’ harassments. The night passed peacefully in both places and the rest of the northern Valley.

On December 15^th, morning, we came back from the fourth to the first world, in Tel Aviv