Visiting the shepherds' communities
Signs of the rainy days and the mud: girls and boys stay at home. They participate in grazing near the house and in other livestock work.
Another obvious sign: the ever-boiling water can for use perched on a perennial wood-fed fire. The water is used to wash dishes and launder the fabrics that wrap the cheese blocks.
The fabric protrudes beneath the pressed wooden boards under the stone blocks and whey runs down the sides. We wash our hands with the whey.
Everything is suffused by the smell of the wood fire.
Another component is leakage and water infiltrating into the living structure (shared bedroom). We are widening the water ditches around the living structure and also around the pens.
The morning visit that started at seven was short. In most families the women and men are engaged in milking, or with the milk buyers or are free to make the cheese, the yogurt, and Samna (or ghi).
The later visit is for inquiries and information exchange, for relaxed sitting and a longer conversation when the landlady’s hands are busy.
The intertwined and opposite components: cold, rain, mud and a fresh start of plentiful new grass for sheep to feed on.
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.
May-10-2025A Shabbat treat for settlers: evicting Palestinian shepherds from their homes
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