1. Umm al-’Amad. Many of you will remember the long struggle to reclaim this fertile valley, the Maraga Lands, for their rightful Palestinian owners, after 12 years or more in which they had no access to them. The wadi at Umm al-’Amad is situated just beneath the large, cruel settlement of Othniel, whose settlers are sitting on the lands of Umm al-’Amad and neighboring villages; these settlers have done whatever they could to drive the owners away, often attacking them physically and subjecting them to the usual regime of […]Saturday, March 15 2014 Otniel’s settlers celebrating on Palestinian private land, soldiers seem to be impotent Otniel’s settlers celebrating and chasing away Palestinian shepheards and flocks from their land, soldiers and other occupation forces seem to be impotent. Umm El Amad, South Hebron hills 15.3.2014
Saturday, November 23 2013 An Organized Attack in Umm el Ara’is, and More A sunny Saturday in South Hebron hills, and for some reason, not many activists have registered. Some of us headed from Jerusalem, in Ezra’s car, to the lands of Umm el ‘Amad. One shepherd took his sheep to graze, and another plowed his land accompanied by us, fortunately without being disturbed by settlers or ‘”Security Forces”. The farmers have finished their work pretty early, and the one who had been plowing reminded us that his access to his lands has been denied for many years, until we started coming along with him. The rest of us headed in a van from Jerusalem to […]
Saturday, November 16 2013 Umm el ‘Amad, Umm al-Ara’is and Susya by David Shulman
By a miracle of sorts, we had a mostly peaceful day in South Hebron today; such an event is so rare that I thought it might be worth mentioning to you. In lieu of a more substantial report, let me just say that Abu Sharif and Fadil plowed three fields, with an iron plow and a donkey, on one end of the wadi at Umm al-’Amad, just under the settlement of Otniel– lands they were denied access to for some 15 years– and there was a slightly higher-tech plowing, with […]Saturday, August 24 2013 Israeli Army Officer Illegaly Prevents Agricultural Use of Private Palestinian Land As every Saturday, our activists accompanied some shepherds, residents of the Palestinian village of Umm e Amad with their flocks to their private land, near the settlement of Otniel. As on many Saturdays, an officer in the Israeli army decided to chase away the shepherds from their lands without any reason nor order, and while profoundly ignoring the activists who were trying to remind him of the fact that he was breaking the Israeli law. Watch the video made by Ta’ayush activist
Saturday, June 29 2013 Umm al-’Amad by David Shulman
June 29, 2013 Umm al-‘Amad Ahmad likes to sing. Almost from the moment we turn up—around 7 AM, when it’s still deliciously cool with light wind and cloud—he’s been singing happily as he keeps an eye on his goats. Ahmad is something between a boy and a young man. Seems happy. So do the goats, feasting without pause on the varied menu of thorns that this hill offers them. The songs, too, are varied. They include the latest hit in Palestine, the song a young singer from Gaza, Muhammad ‘Assaf, […]Thursday, June 27 2013 On Authors, Porta-Potties, and Other things by Amitai Ben-Abba
A blow to the ribs is the small token I received from the soldiers for coming once again to accompany people to their land in Umm al-Ara’is. This time we staged some resistance. We approached the land from three different directions. In a sub-group of five we entered from the south and met confused soldiers telling us we are not allowed to go further. We told them there is absolutely no legal justification to stop us as we kept on roaming through. They demanded our ID’s but we dismissed them […]Wednesday, June 19 2013 The Struggle for Being by Amitai Ben-Abba
In the insane, maniacal strive to live life at its fullest I have found the most meaning in the perseverance and generosity of the Palestinian strugglers in the South Hebron Hills. The mechanics of disenfranchisement are so horrendously well-oiled, that the strugglers of the Wild South resist simply by being. And so, the rest of us, that come from safe(r) surroundings and secure(r) socioeconomic backgrounds, resist simply by being with them. That is the meaning of Ta’ayush – living together, living the end of apartheid and separate-ness. Waking up at […]
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