“Annexation supporters are no longer content with the C areas in the west bank. The success of the plunder operation in the C areas have increased the preparators appetite and now they are looking to expand to new areas. The Palestinian land robbery movement has set its eyes for some time now on B areas.” This paragraph opens the editorial of Haaretz from December 25, 2024, and paints a picture of a situation that came to be since October 7th ‘24. About 17 communities of Palestinian shepherds have been expelled from their lands already but there are also some communities that are holding on. These communities are supported by human rights activists including the activists of “Looking the Occupation in the Eye,” that are active in the southern Jordan Valley.
The land thieves, as Haaretz names them, wish to complete the cleansing of C areas from its occupied residents. The method mainly relies of sowing terror among the community of Palestinian shepherd, together with illegal erection of structures on Palestinian lands and a public relations campaign of lies.
Every day, herds of camels and sheep arrive at the Palestinian village Ras al-Ain from a new illegal outpost that was recently erected very close to the village. The settlers and their herds behave as if they are the owners of the place. During the day, women and children are in the village, while the men leave for work. The timing is intentional since the goal is to terrorize the inhabitants, and exhaust them, until they will leave the land that the settlers covet. The sheep and camels drink water from the troughs set for the herds of the Palestinians, the Palestinian women flee in fear and the settler roams as if he was a lord in his own home. The activists make phone calls to the police and the army, and those come and go but the evil harm perpetrated does not cease.
On December 21 ’24, two known settlers entered the village and with their camels reached the entrance the house of Palestinians. When the army arrived, after an especially long delay, the “Looking the Occupation in the Eye” activists tried to explain to the men and women in uniform what should be obvious to every soldier serving in this sector: that their role in the occupied territories, that are under military rule, is to protect the occupied population.
The settlers make sure to lead their herds towards the village and many times enter the area close to the houses despite it being barren of anything for their herds to graze on. First, there were herds of sheep and goats and lately, camels were added. All these actions were documented by the activists of “Looking the Occupation in the Eye” that maintain “protective presence” in Ras al-Ain and, the neighboring village Mu’arrajat. The aim of “protective presence” is to document the activity of the settlers in the vicinity of the Palestinian village and summon the army or police in any incident where the village is entered or there is any other threat towards the villagers.
In a few incidents the settlers of an outpost, in the vicinity of Wadi Auja, were joined by settlers from the neighboring illegal outpost of Zohar Sabah, and physically attacked the residents and robbed them of sheep and goats. That is what happened in June 2024 where sheep were stolen under the protection of army and also in September of 2024 when settler youth invaded the school of Mu’arrajat armed with batons, and beat, in front of the cameras, not only the teachers, but also the activists of “Looking the Occupation in the Eye.”
The events in the school were covered in the media but the coverage also included a fake version the events advanced by the settlers. In almost every encounter between activists and the teens, that come out of the outpost and enter the village, the teens, that are holding a camera, claim that they are being attacked or that there is an attempt to still sheep from them. When the policeman arrives at the place of the incident, they file a complaint against the activist and the police then uses it to expel the activist from the area for a few days.
The land robbers are assisted by media outlets that are supporters of the settler movement. That is what transpired last week when Channel 14 hosted an activist of “Im Tirzu,” Be’nayahu Ben Shabbat, who is the coordinator of special missions. He came back from Ras al- Ain and told the viewers that the Palestinian village, that he claimed is illegal, occupies state land. An inspection of official government land maps shows exactly the opposite. The village is not situated on state lands and there are no demolition orders contrary to what was claimed in the broadcast.
A news article, that aired in that channel, documented an activist from “Looking the Occupation in the Eye” while he is reporting to the Jordan Valley headquarters that a settler had entered the village area with a herd. The article accused the activist in creating a “blood libel” against the settlers, based on video taken by an “Im Tirzu” activist. However, a careful observation of the video clip reveals that it was “doctored” to create a bias. It is evident as the “doctoring” was done sloppily: in the last few seconds of the video one can see that north of where the activist is standing there are other structures of the village.
The effort to grab the land and drive the Palestinians out includes illegal construction as well. That Is also the case with the establishments of outposts (the settlers name them shepherds farms) and other structures. In the night between Tuesday and Wednesday (December 24-25, ’24) Activists from “Looking the Occupation in the Eye” stayed at Ras al-Ain. They got a call regarding a suspicious activity by the school in Mu’arrajat, a neighboring village that is also subject to settlers’ harassments. When they got there, they saw Gabriel Kalish, the local security coordinator of Me’vo’ot Yericho, and a group of about 20 young settlers who lit a bonfire, made noise and started erecting a pile of stones. This was probably done as a diversion.
A few minutes later the activists got another call telling them that there are three vehicles in the area of the Auja slide close to the Yt”v settlement. At this stage the police and army were called to the two places. The army got to Mu’arrajat, the soldiers hang out a bit as friends with Gabriel, the local security coordinator, and took off.
After about an hour, and a few more phone calls from Ras al-Ain, the activists decided to start driving towards the village. Gabriel Kalish (or at least his vehicle) chased them and unsuccessfully tried to delay them. When the activists got to Ras al Ain the reason for that became clear. They saw there a group of settlers with a generator and construction equipment. Gabriel Kalish showed up in the guise of a Border Patrol volunteer, because Wadi Auja is not included in the area where he has authority as the security coordinator of Me’vo’ot Yericho.
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The settlers blinded the activists with high beams, and the activists called the army and the police. They explained that there is an illegal construction activity taking place and that they feel threatened. Indeed, after a while the army and then the police showed up, but neither lifted a finger and they did not prevent the illegal construction from being carried out in front of their eyes. The activists continued to ask for a response from the system and then around 1 am another military vehicle arrived and apparently demanded that the settlers stop their actions. The outlaws quickly collected the equipment and started to take off. An attempt by the soldiers to stop the vehicles was unsuccessful and one of the drivers even tried to run the soldiers over, as documented in a video shot by the activists. After about 15 minutes the settlers returned, captured one of the activists and beat him up.
At the end of these incidents the army and the activists left the place. In the morning when they returned to place, where the night events transpired, it became evident that the settlers had later returned and finished the work they started in the previous evening – they erected a pergola.
