קהילות רועים פלסטינים בצפון הבקעה תחת התעללות ותקיפות של מתנחלים
Shepherds’ accompaniers: a group of Israeli volunteers who accompany
the Palestinian shepherd communities who go out to graze their flock and protect them from the aggressive violence of colonists (‘hill youth’ and the Israeli army)
Protective presence: among the accompaniers there are several who spend the day in the encampments with the women and children while the men go out to the grazing grounds, and even stay the night in order to protect the locals from the colonists’ violent attacks.
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At 6 a.m. we arrived at the Palestinian Jordan Valley - 3 accompaniers, Dani, Reut and Artem, went out to graze with shepherd N. from Maqasar. N. crossed the Allon Road towards his own barley field in order to feed his sheep. Most of the Valley is already dry by now, and barley is an important and expensive feed. As soon as they arrived, it appeared that colonist Neria Shalem, owner of the nearby outpost, had invaded the field with his cattle who greatly damaged the crop. This is a very commonly used method by colonists to impact the shepherd and his sheep and force him to either graze elsewhere or purchase very expensive alternative feed. The goal is clear and known: make him and the other shepherds leave and take over Palestinian land for the benefit of the colonists, Lords of the Land. The outpost which Neria established about 2 years ago is situated east of the Allon Road. He receives money from the Jewish Settlement Wing of the Jewish Agency. Water and electricity come from one of the nearby colonies, perhaps Bequ’ot.
Dani remained at the request of shepherd N. in order to distance the colonist’s cattle from his field, while he continues with his flock and the two other accompaniers uphill, towards an area with much grass. The area is defined as “inactive firing zone” which following negotiations between the Palestinian and Israeli DCOs has been allowed Palestinian grazing in this dry season.
But when he got there, so did Neria, owner of the outpost, charging N. and trying to chase him away. The accompaniers tried to separate the two but failed, Neria broke forth and hit N. with a plastic hose. The accompaniers summoned police that failed to arrive, and N. decided to leave and go home with his sheep. The accompaniers managed to distance Neria’s flock from the field.
After about an hour, policemen came and took testimonies of the accompaniers who had stayed on the spot. The police asked to see N. for colonist Neria complained - falsely - that N. had beaten him.
The accompaniers hurried to N.’s home and were amazed when, after a short while, two soldiers arrived and arrested N. for supposedly attacking the colonist. The colonist, it must be said, was not arrested, not even for a single hour, even though it was he who had attacked N.
N. was held in custody for two days during which he was interrogated at the Benyamin police station and taken from there to Ofer base. All this time, a lawyer on behalf of the Foundation for Human Rights accompanied him with legal advice. At the end of the two days he was released on bail and will be tried, unclear when such a trial will take place.
Since then N. and his brother as well as other shepherds from the area refrain from moving to the eastern side of Allon Road, where barley fields are plentiful. Neria, the colonist, invades there every day with his cattle. The shepherd accompaniers do indeed manage to distance him, but the barley that was planted for Palestinian flocks is running out…
Farisiya was quiet all day. Tamara spent the day playing with the children, whereas I (Miki) tried to help with N.’s problem and coordinating other places we accompany.
At 12L30 Daniel, security official of Rotem colony situated on the opposite hill, sits in his pickup truck decorated with a large Israeli foag. The hill is about 50 meters away from the villagers’ homes. This is the security official’s daily ceremony, sometimes twice a day, meant to intimidate the women and children who remain without the men all day. I called the police and asked that he be distanced for he frightens the villagers and might even enter the locality. A policeman called Fatal claimed there was no reason to deny security official Daniel’s presence there for his own security reasons. These are state lands, he added, and tried tirelessly to understand why we think there is any danger of his attack. A police car was sent but the policemen kept only phone contact and claimed they had nothing to do there. At that time Daniel left and went back to Rotem colony, and they left.
En Sukut - A source of water and fertile grass on Palestinian-owned land, east of Allon Road opposite Shadmot Mekhola colony. That is where three of Farisiya’s shepherds - A., B. and L., moved for the summer with their flocks, without their families. Accompanied by Israelis they grazed in fields of corn and tomatoes that were deserted by their owners. The accompaniment was need for during the earlier week, when the shepherds moved to En Sukut, young masked colonists from Shadmot Mekhola colony came and beat a shepherd and his two accompaniers, drawing blood. Every few days young colonists (‘hill youth’) come and turn on the water tanker faucet, letting water stream down for nothing. The police did come that night but declared that the attacks were a result of the accompaniers’ presence. Clearly this is a false accusation, literally accusing the victim, and thus frees colonists from any accountability. To this day, of course, no ‘hill youth’ have been caught and no suspect was arrested, despite all the testimonies given at the Benyamin police station.
We remained to sleep at Farisiya, and the night passed quietly.