A Difficult Week

So, it has been a difficult past week. I wanted to write about something funny, something cute, but unfortunately these things have not been so much on my mind as of late. The marathon day I had on Monday really took its toll on me. While out with Palestinian shepherds in the morning, grazing in an area pretty far from the illegal Israeli settlement outpost of Havot Ma'on, a car from the outpost started to drive towards us. The shepherds took off to another hill out of sight of the settlement and we stayed to film the car coming.

When the car arrived, my teammate Laura and I were further down the original hill; though we couldn't see the settlers, we could see a couple rocks being thrown over the side of the hill. One of the shepherds asked us if we could move up a bit and get photos of them throwing rocks, and as we moved up we saw two settlers, one of whom was masked. Laura, tired of running from these guys (this is almost a daily occurrence) decided to walk to meet them and I followed with the camera.

The two Israeli settlers seemed almost caught off guard. The one who was unmasked reached up to put his hand over the camera lense, but promptly removed it and a conversation ensued. I had seen him before, and so had the Palestinian shepherd who was watching us from the other hill. This settler had been responsible for killing five of the shepherd's sheep, with no charges placed against him. The settler told my teammate that this land, all of this land, belonged to him and his fellow Jews as it was given to their fathers and mothers by God. Laura said that even if that was true, why should they harrass and beat Palestinians who are living there as well. He replied very frankly that the Arabs were the ones trying to kill them and that she should read the truth written in the Torah. She replied by saying it is also written in the Torah that one should seek justice as well as truth. He called her stupid and began to walk away.

As they walked back to their car, I could see another settler car approaching. We decided to make our way towards the Palestinian shepherds. As I looked over my shoulder, I noticed the second car arrive and a settler armed with a gun step out of the driver's side. I knew he probably wouldn't shoot at that time since we were there and cameras were rolling. Once we arrived where the shepherds were waiting, they greeted us as if we had come back from the dead. One of them told me he had had his phone ready with the number of the Israeli police (they have jurisdiction in this area), just in case something happened. I smiled, knowing we had each other's back. After the settlers left, the Israeli army arrived (most likely called by the settlers). They didn't approach us, though, and we headed back to the shepherd's cave for a nap and lunch.

This event was only part of that day; the other part included responding to a call about two Israeli settlers from a different settlement outpost beating two Palestinian shepherds. We got the information out in a media release the next day. And then yesterday, the Israeli army built a massive roadblock of stones, blocking people in the villages of the South Hebron Hills from the nearby town of Yatta. I am so tired...but people here keep living and pushing on and I sometimes wonder how they do it without going insane.

I would appreciate thoughts and prayers for people here and for me and my teammates. Not all is gloom and doom, but the systematic oppression in this place has its way of creeping up on you and overwhelming you at times, at least this is what I've been feeling the last few days.