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Palestinian farmer Samhan Mohammad Shureite at his home in Al Mazra Al Qibriya on April 13. He has been prevented from accessing the land his family relies on to farm for income.Nathan Vandercrippe/Globe and Mail
The Ein Harasha springs rise from the ground in a shallow green valley covered with olive, lemon, walnut, pomegranate and fig trees. Its water fills a square basin and provides irrigation for vegetables during the summer. This is the lifeblood of the Schreite family farm of 40 hectares and the dozens of people who depend on its production.
But the day after the war began in Gaza, Samhan Mohammad Shureite and his daughter encountered a group of armed soldiers and Israelis blocking their access to the land.
“The soldiers said, ‘Don’t come back here again until the war is over,'” he recalls.
He hasn’t returned even after more than half a year. His olive trees are no longer harvested in the fall. His vegetable garden was not planted this spring. If you are unable to water your lemon tree during the upcoming dry season, it may die.
“For hundreds of years, this land has been our source of life and income,” he said. But after October 7, when Hamas militants attacked Israel, there was “nothing”.
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On April 15, construction work is underway to expand the Israeli settlement of Harsha, near the Ein Harasha spring, which provides water to Palestinian farmers in the area.Nathan Vandercrippe/Globe and Mail
Israelis living in settlements near Harsha say the war has raised security concerns and that they need a larger buffer zone to protect their homeland from Palestinians. Settlers chain their dogs to metal cables strung to form a perimeter overlooking the access road to Ein Harasha. In March, Canadian diplomats visiting the area heard gunshots and evacuated.
David Lemel, 19, a resident of Harsha, said it was to maintain peace.
“Tall fences make good neighbors,” he said. He has little sympathy for the Schreite family. “Everyone loses money in war.”
But at the same time that tens of thousands of Palestinians have been killed and nearly 2 million people have been forced to flee their homes in gun battles between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, a “silent war is taking place in the West Bank.” , forcing people out of their farming areas and expanding,” Abbas Milhem, secretary general of the Palestinian Farmers Union, said of the boundaries of Israeli settlements.
Last year, Palestinian farmers failed to harvest about half of their olive crop. Their union estimates losses at US$60 million.
According to the newspaper, Palestinians have lost access to 25,000 hectares of grazing and agricultural land in the Jordan Valley.
Milhem blames the “settler shepherds,” the Israelis who years ago began using herds of cattle and sheep as an occupation force, forcing Palestinians out of prime agricultural land.
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The dogs are kept within the boundaries surrounding the Israeli settlement of Harsha. Israeli settlers chain their dogs to metal cables strung to form a perimeter overlooking the access road to Ein Harasha. Nathan VanderKlippe/The Globe and Mail
Meanwhile, the Palestinian herd has declined dramatically. In 2021, the union counted the number of goats and sheep in the Palestinian territories at 1.75 million. By August last year, the number had fallen to 700,000. Milhem believes there are only 500,000 left, and the fields have become a battlefield.
On April 12, Benjamin Akimer, a 14-year-old resident of the Marakei Shalom settlement outpost, was killed after leaving home to tend to his sheep. Security officials called the boy’s death a terrorist attack, and his death sparked an intense reaction. Hundreds of settlers set fire to houses and cars in the Palestinian town of al-Mughair. Two Palestinians were killed in the violence, as were dozens of sheep.
Mohamed Irwan, a local farmer, said the attack was preceded by months of hardship: “Since October 7, we have suffered greatly in terms of farming and harvesting.” Told.
He said the boy’s sheep were grazing on “private Palestinian land.” These were stolen by settlers through grazing projects. ”
Neighbors also reported their cattle stolen.
Water supplies have also been targeted. Farmers’ unions have counted 10 cases in which concrete was poured into wells in Palestine to stop the flow.
Some, like Schreite, don’t have access to vital wells.
The Israeli military said its soldiers were not preventing families from working on their land. The Israel Defense Forces said in an emailed statement that “there are no legal guidelines or physical barriers preventing access to the areas in question.”
However, even foreign envoys have encountered obstacles when visiting the region.
According to a diplomat familiar with the incident, as the German foreign minister approached the Ein Halasa area, a drone flew overhead, blaring sirens. The Globe and Mail did not identify the person because he was not authorized to speak publicly.
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Settlement construction is visible from the Israeli settlement of Harsha in the West Bank. Nathan VanderKlippe/The Globe and Mail
Officials said two shots rang out as a team of Canadian diplomats arrived ahead of Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly’s visit to the Harsha neighborhood. Jolie arrived in the area without incident a few days later.
Global Affairs Canada said in a statement that Canada is “gravely concerned by reports of the forcible removal of Palestinian communities from lands in the West Bank.” He called on the Israeli government to stop settler violence and hold those responsible to account.
Ms. Jolie has promised sanctions against settlers responsible for the violence, but Canada has yet to take action.
There are 75 families living in Harsha. Harsha was founded in 1997 when students from Jerusalem’s nationalist yeshiva began occupying the hill overlooking Ain His Harasha. (Canada considers West Bank settlements illegal, but Israel claims it has historical rights to the land.)
There are many signs of expansion for Harsha. On a vacant lot, people are gathered around a blueprint spread out on the hood of a pickup truck. A large crane carries construction materials to a row of new homes perched on top of a cliff.
In the valley below, the Israeli flag flies over Ein Harasha. The first settlers built their own mikveh pools for religious purification, but preferred swimming in the deep waters of Ein Harasha.
“It’s one of the best springs in the area,” says David Cohen, a 20-year-old construction worker who grew up in Harsha. (Remel, a 19-year-old resident, said he has returned to the springs since the war began.)
Settlement spokesman Ilan Ziat said the decision to treat the area as a “sensitive and sensitive area” was taken “in cooperation with military authorities” after the October 7 attack.
He said Harsha residents were concerned that Palestinians living nearby “will do everything in their power to continue what happened on October 7.”
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Suleite looks out over the valley near her home in Al Mazra Al Qibriya. He says there is no security threat or justification for not letting his family tend the orchard and vegetables. Nathan VanderKlippe/The Globe and Mail
Since then, 464 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank, according to local authorities, and five Israelis have been killed in the first 100 days of the war, according to Israel’s emergency service Rescue Without Borders. It is said that
Guiat accuses Shureite’s community of supporting Hamas, and of Shureite himself building roads and developing farms without permission.
“He is doing everything in his power to prevent Jews from coming to this area,” Guiat said. “He aided and abetted the disorder by contaminating the spring water with cow excrement to prevent people from bathing or drinking the water.”
Mr. Schreite admits that he dumped fertilizer into the spring to scare off angry bathers when he pumped the spring’s water for irrigation.
But could that be grounds for preventing families from tending their orchards and vegetables, he asked?
“There is no security threat, so there is no justification whatsoever,” he said. “This is an agricultural area.”
