As M. drives us to the nearest town, he tells us about the latest incident that happened in the village where we are going. A settler injured a Palestinian farmer and he is luckily alive, recovering in hospital.
Jayyous V
I wake up before it is light and get out of the shed. The atmosphere feels pretty much the same as it can feel in any Mediterranean country just before dawn. There is a bit of light coming out of the back of the distant mountains, but the sun is still hidden behind them. There is a very special orange-green colour in the sky that becomes bluer higher up from the mountains and into the rest of the sky.
Jayyous IV. The Green Line
A. takes us on a “tour” around the area on the way to his groves today. We get on his own tractor for that, so again today we endure a rocky path, although today it is a different one. We then see a different portion of the wall that has the form of a fortified road.
Jayyous III. “The settlers took my land”
We go and pick olives today as well. We have slept in this shed that lies on the “Israeli” part of the wall. They say it is only a security wall for the settlement, but instead of putting the security next to the Israeli settlement, they have put it about six metres away from the houses of the village, and it effectively acts as a political frontier between the illegally expanded Israeli state and the still non-existent Palestinian state.
Friendly settler with machine gun
Today we go to place that is much harder to reach. Besides, only four internationals remain with me in this village now, because there is some important demonstrations that needs to be supported somewhere else and they have all gone there. Of those four, two are finishing their stay in the country today and they are going back to their countries, and the rest need a rest. We are considering going back to Jerusalem, because in this flat we are asked not to have showers, because the water pipes are so bad. We have had soil stuck to our clothes and our clothes stuck to our skin for a few days now; it has been boiling hot every day and it seems like a good idea to go back to Jerusalem to have a good shower, a good rest and a good drink.
