What happens when the media leaves?

Things had come close to a confrontation between the settlers from Miskiyot, who had pitched their tent so close to Ein il Hilwe and the Palestinian supporters of this tiny Bedouin community. We wondered what would happen after everyone left.

The day after the settlers invaded, back in May, the Israeli army returned with papers ordering both the settlers and the Palestinians to move their adjacent tents. They complied with this - the Palestinians because they did not want any more trouble. Their biggest struggle was to survive without an adequate water supply.

More hopeful news came from Jordan Valley Solidarity volunteers, who were there to explain their plan to connect the community to a Palestinian water supply using surface rubber piping. They then took us to a neighbouring community where they have just finished such a scheme and a small chicken farmer is now paying a twentieth of the previous price for his water supply. Unbelievably, in this community the Israeli army had caged a working water pump so that the Palestinians could not access water from it.

The Jordan Solidarity group are committed to working with the grass roots communites to both identify the problems and find small scale solutions. They are setting up two guesthouses, one in Tubas and one in Jiftlik to encourage the on going involvement of volunteers in supporting these vulnerable communities

This style of working is the very antithesis of the Israeli military administration of Area C and in particular of the Jordan Valley, where the prohibition on building dwellings, schools or roads, sinking wells or connecting to electricity supplies seems deliberately designed to squeeze the life out of these small but determined Palestinian communities.

Our original plan was to visit Ein il Hilwe and meet Fathy, the coordinator of the Jordan Solidarity group, to show us the work the volunteers are doing with the communities. Fathy was unable to meet us because of a closed Israeli checkpoint, but he sent 2 of his colleagues to meet us at Ein il Hilwe. We had tea with 3 Bedouin women and their children.

They have had no more trouble with the settlers since the tents were removed, apart from the usual problems of restricted access to their spring and pasture. The children are still not getting to school and there has been no sign of the ambulance promised by the Palestinian minister the last time we visited. We heard that Rashid, one of the Jordan Valley Solidarity group, had been arrested after we left the previous day. He paid a $400 bail and will have to appear in court in July.

The Jordan Valley volunteers were explaining about their plans to extend an overground piped water system to Ein El Hilwe, and they took us to a neighbouring community where they have just completed such a link to a Palestinian water supply. This will greatly reduce the cost of water for the community. But the ongoing difficulty of getting water out here is ironic - Ein Al Hilwe means "sweet spring."

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