Now Hammam Al Malih about the intention of the deportation

We were in Hamam El Maliach, a community that has recently become the new focus of harassment by the settlers and the army.  As I wrote in my previous report, it appears that the settler’s plan is progressing in several ways.  The new outpost that was established near Hamam  is meant to demonstrate their presence to the communities of shepherds in the area.  After the residents of  Um Jamal fled,  it was Hamam’s turn.   Luckily volunteers from an international organization arrived at the right time and escorted them to the pasture with their flocks and slept there at night to protect them.  

Meanwhile we can see how the settlers have progressed towards their objective.   They are slowly and constantly increasing their activities.   They drive around in the vehicle belonging to the head of security  or the army,  or in stolen cars or cars that have been taken off the road because of improper maintenance and the license plates in front and back are not identical.  They drive into the flocks or lead them to drink from a polluted well near the village.   They behave as if they are permitted to be everywhere and do as they please, and constantly remind the shepherds of where they are permitted to bring their flocks.   The area they are permitted decreases every day until there is no area left.
Two days ago they attacked a foreign volunteer, snatched her phone, and hit her. 

Their next stage is to threaten.  The children are afraid at night and the men do not sleep.  Everyone is waiting for something bad to happen.  I heard about rocks being thrown by both sides.  Groups of men gather on both sides  

South of here in Hamra Moshe the settler is known to harass shepherds’ families and in the central area there is a community who is suffering from settlers from an outpost near the settlement of Beka’ot.  

I heard all this information from the shepherds today.    They also told their life stories that involved being evicted since 1948.  “I was born in Msafer Yata in 1989 and we were evicted in cars and trucks that brought us together with our flocks.  From there we were evicted from place to place.  We became accustomed to this…”  They have lived in Hamam for several years after living in the area of Maskiyot in the 1990s and then moved westward to Hamam El Maliach.

In 2017 the outpost of Uri was established near Maskiyot followed by the outposts of Tzuri, Asael, Moshe, and others.   These were followed by limitations on pasture areas, fences that blocked the movement of the herdsmen, followed by threats, violence, and eviction that is currently being carried out.

Today, which is a Jewish holiday and a day of the olive harvest for the Palestinians, the entire length of the road was empty.  There was nothing but the mountains and the sky.  The valley is covered by brown soil after the plowing and waiting for rain and the greenery, but things could be different.