UMM KHALED BEING FOLLOWED BY THE SETTLER
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We met her in Jeb al Theeb during a meeting we scheduled with the residents of the village in order to introduce ourselves and explain our month-long project offering accompaniment during the olive harvest in this area under threat by the illegal Israeli settlements of Tekoa and Nokdim, home to Israeli FM Lieberman. The turnout for the meeting was less than expected, despite our best efforts (including distributing a flyer translated into Arabic by our local coordinator), due to the sudden death and funeral for a woman from the village. There were just a dozen adults, surrounded by the ever-present children.
MEETING BY KEROSENE LAMP IN JEB AL THEEB
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As we reached the olive trees, our worst suspicions were confirmed: the settlers, after having denied her access to her own land, had stolen most of Umm Khaled’s olives. Not to be discouraged, we set about our work and after a couple of hours we had almost finished harvesting the few remaining olives, approximately 15 kg. Just then a settler, who had by now become a loathsome yet familiar face, arrived on the scene with his white pick-up truck, observing us from a distance, his machine gun slung over his shoulder. After a few minutes, as we continued to pick olives, he pulled out his phone and called a certain Ariel. At this point, mindful of previous experiences, we expected the arrival of IDF soldiers, who fortunately did not appear.
UMM KHALED TAKING TABOUN BREAD OUT OF THE OVEN
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The two settlers eventually left and we entered the village where Umm Khaled demonstrated how Taboun, a typical Palestinian bread, is made. We ate lunch together and enjoyed the view. In the afternoon, a trail of colored aprons and backpacks came over the hill on the dirt road as the children returned from the school in the next village and spent the afternoon playing with us, overcoming the initial shyness of our first encounter.
As the sun descended upon the horizon, we headed back home, our hearts filled with wonderful memories of the day and in hopes that other people of this devastated village will follow the example of Umm Khaled, an extraordinary woman.
The Volunteers of the Harvesting Peace Project
Harvesting Peace is an Italian civilian peace intervention project in Palestine to support the olive harvest and the work of Popular Struggle Coordination Committee (www.popularstruggle.org). The project is promoted by Service Civil International – Italy, Association for Peace and Un Ponte Per. Volunteers will be providing international accompaniment for four weeks in the village of Jeb al Theeb near Bethlehem, under threat by the nearby illegal settlements and settlers.
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