Sha'ab al-Butum - settlers enter the fields with herds of cows
We went to Sha’ab al-Butum a month and a half after they asked us to come. They are constantly harassed by settlers. Luckily for them, volunteers stay with them at night, which gives them some peace and security.
Again, we bought food for the extended Jabarin family of about 20 people.
They are faced with new settlers who are encroaching on them, in addition to being very close to Mitzpe Abigail settlement. We met volunteers from the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) and they, whose phones cannot be taken away, gave us videos that illustrate a bit of what is happening.
The family and the volunteers talk about daily events, like this: In the morning between 6.00 - 9.30 the volunteers were with the family's shepherds in the pasture and then settlers arrive with their herds and enter the land. The sheep and goats eat everything that grows. Yesterday they did so in the afternoon.
Leila says that yesterday at six in the morning three people came from Mitzpe Yair outpost, riding horses. Just hung around to harass. After 3 hours a drone arrived that flew over them and took pictures for about fifteen minutes. Again, the tendency to deter and intimidate by demonstrating a constant presence.
It's like this all the time, irregular times, unpredictable behaviour and when the police, if they come, do nothing.
A chronicle of life under constant threat of deportation.