The situation in the Jordan Valley is getting worse day by day. In addition to the daily struggle with the settlers, the Palestinians must contend with the inclement climate and the toxic politics of the messianic government representing the supreme and moral Chosen People.

We arrived in the morning and divided up into teams, which were able to accompany the shepherds to various places and thus enable them and their families to remain on their land and the place where they live. Every day like this is an expression of life and their refusal to give up, and the longer we, the privileged, can help them, the better. However, we must not kid ourselves – the messianic ideology is stronger than we are and permeates most layers of the Jewish population. The opposition (Ganz and Lapid) only reinforce it with old security arguments dating from 1948 and 1967

Two of the escorts accompanied the flocks of Z and H. The grazing, which continued for hours, passed peacefully. The vegetation that has grown since the last rainfall is still very sparse. The shepherds have to add corn and barley, which costs them a lot of money. Grazing in Khalet Makhul also passed in peace and quiet. There seems to be a bit more vegetation in that area.

At En Al Hilwa, three escorts joined the shepherds and two flocks living on either side of the road (the Allon Road) – the flocks belonging to F and to the daughters of S. They went to the pasture on the hills overlooking the Allon Road from the west. The grazing went off peacefully and quietly. The vegetation is still sparse and if the sheep eat it all now, they fear that there’ll be nothing left to eat in a month.

On the way back from the pasture, a white jeep was waiting for them right beside the encampment of Ein Al Hilwa. The shepherds say that the settler in the jeep had been waiting for them in the dry river bed and when he noticed that they had not yet crossed the road, he accelerated and tried to run over the sheep. They know him from Maskiyot and they call him Abu Jadge (father of the turkeys) because he keeps poultry along with sheep at the outpost beside Maskiyot. To the good fortune of the shepherds, neither they nor the sheep were hurt. The grazing apparently passed peacefully – this time – because you never know when something bad will happen. The next day, when there were no escorts, the same settler turned up and wouldn’t let the shepherdess cross the road to her home for an hour until he got tired and gave up, for whatever his reasons (maybe he had to get home to his kids).

But that wasn’t the worst of the day:
Three escorts went out to the pasture with N in the area round Beqa’ot. The 18-year-old settler youth Chen, adopted by the owner of the outpost Neriya Shalem, had been waiting for them on the road (Allon Road) since 8:00 a.m., driving back and forth on an ATV and he frightened the flock to prevent them crossing the road. After about 20 minutes, the shepherd and escorts managed to cross the road, but in his frustration, that same Chen got off the ATV and began walking with a club in his hand towards the shepherd’s encampment, where the women and children were. One of the escorts blocked his way with his body without resorting to violence and Chen gave up on his amusement. The escort stayed in the encampment to protect everyone there in case the youth returned and threatened to beat up the residents. The rest of the grazing went peacefully and, in the evening, when the escort night shift arrived, one of the two teams slept over at N’s at his request.

And as it turned out, the day wasn’t yet over for the settlers.

At 10:30 p.m., three “hilltop youth” appeared (aged 22–25, they haven’t been “youth” for years), to drink coffee on the hill opposite the home of Farisiya resident L. The escorts went over to them and shone bright flashlights in their faces, dazzling them. Two of them tried to get closer and follow the escorts, but got tired of it. The third didn’t give up and made a show of pretending his leg had been hurt by a stone thrown at him. No such thing happened, but what won’t they do when they can accuse Palestinians of violence later. The escorts waited until they saw the ATV go back to the hill and went to sleep.

The night itself passed quietly in Farisiya and at N’s place in El Mkasar.

I should note that the events of the following day (Sunday) were more serious. The settler again came back to the encampment with reinforcements (Moshe Sharvit and settlers from the Neve Tirzah outpost) and tried to attack. Chen fell over during the attack, but this didn’t prevent him from complaining that the Palestinians attacked him. The shepherd who wasn’t even there as he was with his sheep in the pasture was summoned to the police and detained for several days.

The Palestinians’ lives are difficult and the story of the ongoing abuse will only get worse while the messianism and worship of the clods of this earth get stronger. This is the Chosen People – the People of the Book who have become illiterate ignoramuses.