Jordan Valley - March pogrom

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Observers: 
Daphne Banai (report), Nava Toledano (photography), Tal Haran (translate)
Mar-1-2023
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Morning
Jewish Terror

I don’t know whether there was curfew, but at 10 a.m. the road leading from Huwarra to the Za’atara (Tapuach) Junction was empty – which probably attests to the curfew imposed on the town of Huwwara. The entrance to Yatma village was blocked by a police van standing at its center. The new entrance to Kablan village was blocked by rocks, and even when we were on our way back at 4:30 p.m. was still blocked.

The ascent to the colonist outpost Evyatar had a military checkpoint. We can’t say clearly whether there were colonists there or not.

The entrances to Jawarish and ‘Aqraba villages were open, with no army.

We visited Zob’a, who told us that on April 1, they will harvest honey. Highly recommended. Natural and pure.

Umm Jamal – I hadn’t visited there over a year and all the children crowded around us, excited. Sara caught her head and cried out. “Oh my God, Daphne!” I too was glad to see the family was all right, since on Tuesday during the colonist pogrom in the area, I was very concerned about these dear people. They said 30 colonists began to descend toward them, but changed their minds and turned back.

Mahdi’s mother, living near the Tyassir Junction, said they escaped from their encampment to the hills above and waited there until things would quiet down, trembling with fear. Yusuf from Makhoul sent his children to the surrounding hills to spend the night there, fearing that colonists would get to him too.

We then went to see Mohammad Kbir (the greater) and Mohammad Zghir (the smaller) at Ein Hilweh, who had both been attacked. About 50 colonists came down to them from Maskiyot colony. They broke windows in the brothers’ car, cut up the wheels of the tractor and water tanker, and smashed the glass solar panels with stones. When the smaller Mohammad tried to photograph them, they smashed both phones – his and his wife’s, hit him in the head with a club, and stabbed him. He was hospitalized in Tubas.

We drove to get a ‘power of attorney’ in order to obtain confirmation from the man who is blacklisted for no reason known to him, at En Al Beda.

On our way back, we stopped at eastern Al Farisiya, at a spring that the colonists have taken over, renovated and denied Palestinians access to it. They called the place ‘Ein Rina’. The place is neglected, the ditch of water entering the spring that had been beautiful is now blocked with dirt and weeds, and thus too the exit ditch, so the water stagnates and the floor of the spring is covered with disgusting algae. This was a takeover meant to dispossess and expel the Palestinians who had always looked after the spring, watered their flocks there and even grew fish there.

In the fence which colonists put up along Road 90, a gate has been fixed preventing Palestinians from reaching their grazing grounds. This is the only source of livelihood for Mahdi’s family, whose nephews spend September until the summer on the ground, every year. The fence will deny them access to the grazing grounds, deny dozens of shepherd families their livelihood, and will attach tens of thousands of dunams to the violent outposts of Uri and Menachem and perhaps another weirdo who will decide to come to the region and harass its inhabitants who had there peacefully for centuries.