Farsiya: Daily protection of Palestinian shepherds from settler violence

Protective presence - around-the-clock protection shifts for Jordan Valley Palestinian shepherds against settler violence

Farsiya Saturday, partly cloudy and slightly warm. Boris, Ofir, Vered and Sharon went directly to N., who lives in a camp near the Bekaot settlement. The boys from Uri's outpost harass him a lot. The rest came directly to Farsiya and went on their missions today. Nurit with Aharon and Galia set out to accompany A. to a distant pasture, in the direction of the outpost of Zuriel (Tsuri) attached to the Givat Salfit settlement. Tsuri boys hurt the shepherds, threaten and even beat them. Avili and Oved went out to accompany Y. in Khalet Makhul. Racheli Noga and I, Miki, stayed at the camp in Parsiya and as usual we walked around the tents.

We were treated to plenty of coffee and tea everywhere and also a delicious breakfast of cheese, pita bread and olives. We watched P. bake pita bread in the Taboon oven; We chatted about this and that; H. told about her life in Farsiya. She is from the nearby village of Ein Shibli, where the children's school is located. Before marrying her maternal cousin, she graduated from high school and even managed to study at the university for 3 months. She gave birth to four children and is determined that they will not give up like her but will continue and finish higher education. Involved in their studies, follows their homework and even teaches them herself. The difficult situation in general is manifested in the school in particular - the teachers do not come because of the checkpoints and because the Palestinian Authority does not allocate money to pay them salaries. Some of the classes are delivered via Zoom and the parents request to get tablets (the mobile phones do not receive well in the area) for each family to promote Zoom studies. One of the volunteers is trying to take care of that. At the same time, experience has taught us that it is important to distribute gifts in a very equitable manner, and to make sure that the parents maintain the equipment themselves. Jealousy arises easily and leads to conflicts and fights between the families, and also to anger directed at us.

Today we decided on a sweet activity and made chocolate balls with the children and parents in each family. The parents mixed the materials and the children rolled the balls, it was successful.

At Iman's, we watched the preparation of the edible thistle Akkoub that grows wild on the property. Her cooking pot pot sits on a cooking fire fueled by branches. A rooster proudly strutted around the camp and picked up the scraps thrown at him.

In the afternoon the shepherds and attendants returned from all the grazing areas. All reported peaceful grazing in areas rich in endless winter grass, and no conflicts with the settlers. But in the evening news arrived from a B'Tselem valley activist about a shepherd from a nearby camp, who was grazing as usual far from the orchard of Shadmot Mehola settlement. Despite keeping his distance, the guard in the orchard set his dog on the Palestinian herd and it killed one sheep.

The next morning another report of harassment arrived: Two boys, Gilad Amosi and an armed friend, sat down at six in the morning on a hill and made coffee for their own enjoyment right next to Farsiya's houses. This caused an uproar and fear among the community. The protective escorts came out to them and the boys pretended they were just having a picnic. An appeal to the police ended with the officers refusing to come, claiming that it was a picnic in a public area that is allowed to everyone, even if it is 15 meters away from the residences.

10 minutes later the boys finished the show and left leaving behind them distress and fear. Who knows, if it weren't for the presence of the volunteers, they might even have entered the houses.

These are little snippets from the lives of the people of Farsiya and the other shepherds. You never know what might happen from moment to moment..