“First save me, then ask me for permits,” Azzam replied to the policeman who arrived two hours and ten minutes after being called to protect him from a settler attack.

A key sentence that tells almost the entire story about people whose lives are not equal and whose rights are not equal.

We went to Susiya to visit and hear again about their plight and to bring groceries to the family of Ahmad Nawaja’a, who lives on the outskirts of the residential complex, who is in very dire straits and who also experiences abuse and harassment from the settlers.

First, we went to Azzam and Wadha’s, our long-time friends. This noble and wise man answers my question about their well-being: “Excuse me for saying, shit in mud or shit plus, which is better?” And then he talks about an increasingly difficult life: “We have to coordinate everything now and every action requires coordination and approval, even ploughing, even harvesting our trees near the house. In the meantime, we don’t need approval to breathe. In the past, only if we approached the Jewish Susiya to work our fields, did we have to coordinate. Now every smallest action is required.”

We were happy to hear that the ploughs confiscated in Sha’ab al-Butum were returned to their owners thanks to the excellent attorney, Kamar Mishraki, a few days ago. Now they plough with volunteers from Israel and abroad accompanying them.

I ask him again for the names of the Jewish settlers who hurt them the most: “Shem Tov Luski, who settled inside the archaeological site of Susiya, Amishav Peled, who settled across from them not far from the Jewish Susiya, the name of the new settlement: Mishkan HaRo’im.” Azzam points with his hand to another hill across from him, “And here Pavel and Malka settled with their herd. I don’t know what name they gave their settlement.” These are mainly the people who come almost every day with ATVs or horses or on foot with their herds, cursing the Palestinians: “Sons of bitches, Nazis, get out of here, everything is ours,” and more. The cows trample the trees and eat them. In this, Shemtov Lusky excels. Azzam says that he, Lusky, addressed his neighbour, Hamdan, in this manner: “You beautiful coward. Come, come, we will do to you what the soldiers did in the Yemen field,” and other words on the level of sexual harassment. Almost every day he comes with his 12 cows. Azzam tells of a serious incident from a month ago when masked men arrived with clubs, threatened and shouted: “We will kill you, we will expel you, this is our house, you are temporary here, today or tomorrow you will die.” It was really close to Azzam’s house. They could not be identified because they were masked, and then he called the police as agreed with them. It took two hours and 10 minutes for the police to arrive. “I thanked him for coming right on time,” Azzam says ironically.

And the policeman replied: “Do you have documents that the land here is yours?”

“First save me, then ask for paperwork,” Azzam replied. The policeman does nothing. He certainly does not apologize. He just fills out a complaint form, gives it to him and says: “Take the form, you have an incident number here. Go with this to the Kiryat Arba police station and file a complaint.”

“Why file a complaint?” Azzam replied. “What did you do with the previous complaints? The ones who threatened me with a knife are still walking around free. You didn’t do anything with the previous complaints.”

Again: “Do you have papers to prove ownership of the land?” And then the policeman turned and walked away.

Nasr Nawaja’a, who joins the conversation, says, “They should legally come and act only because they damaged property here and endangered people’s lives. Don’t condition their treatment on presenting paperwork on ownership.”

And he goes on to mention the names of settlers who harm people every day: Yinon Levy, Ilai Friedman from Meitar Farm. Another farm that has sprung up in the last two years and its people are raiding, threatening, harming and making life miserable. They are the ones who caused the people of Zanuta, 70 families, approximately 300 people, to abandon their settlement and are now afraid to return even though the court ruled that they are allowed to return, but not to cultivate their lands. An evil draconian ruling, a magnificent creation of the occupation regime’s creativity. A semblance of doing justice and law now with authority and permission.

What’s the point of returning? What if we can’t live in our house? While we’re still talking, someone from the police calls Nasr and sweetly asks him to come talk and clarify the meaning of the multiple complaints he filed in October about assault, theft of trees and their destruction. Out of concern for you and your well-being, of course, the “policeman” wants to emphasize…..

We’ll be in touch with him about the matter.

We went from there to Ahmad and his wife to bring them groceries. We also bought gas stoves for the wife, Halima, who was left with no way to cook.

They show us a video from Tuesday about the incident I wrote about earlier, the cows eating and trampling the olive trees.

“We sold half of the sheep to feed the rest, since 7.10.

A chronicle of evil and all for security reasons….