While we are watching - Report from Yanoun

I no longer hear the punctual sound of the rooster that woke me up at exactly 03.46 in the morning my first nights in Yanoun. I am getting adjusted to the sounds of the animals and the sounds of the village. The village is awake by 05.00 in the morning. The bread from the taboon¹ is baked, the sheep cheese is made and the sheep have long gone out for grazing. They cannot graze very far though, because of the nearby Israeli settlements that surround Yanoun.

I go to Najiha for an Arabic lesson. Najiha's husband is Kemal and they have six children. Her welcoming smile meets me when I climb up the stairs to the visitor's room in the house. Her eyes look tired. She rubbs the wrist of her right hand. Her hands are large and have traces of hard work. I do not yet want to ask Kif halek – How are you? Najiha makes us tea when the lesson is over. Now is the time to ask how she is. Her wrist aches, actually from all her fingers up to her shoulder. She has 20 sheep to milk twice a day. She makes cheese from the milk. She also has a small vegetable garden and chickens. She cooks small dishes with olives. And she bakes bread. All this work has made her fingers, wrist, arm and shoulder ache. But her major concern today is her son. He has cut his thumb and she is worried that the cut has become infected. They may have to go to the hospital in Nablus. About once a month, a medical team comes to Yanoun. She does not know when it is due next time.

Najiha has bred her sheep flock herself. She started some ten years ago, when Kemal had to stop working as a stone cutter. She says that she had to do something to cover the living expenses of her large family. Najiha started with one female sheep. When it had lambs, Najiha kept the female lambs and sold the male ones. Kemal shepherds her 20 sheep every day now. Najiha's eyes smile mischievously when she says that Kemal does not enjoy going out with the sheep. She looks proud when she talks about her sheep.

Najiha calls Yanoun "my village". This village is surrounded by Israeli settlements. The nearest settlement is only 400 metres away. The settlers are farmers, just like the people of Yanoun. Najiha says they have sheep, chickens and horses. The sheep of Yanoun can not graze beyond the hills as they used to, because of the settlements. The villagers always go together, shepherding on this side of the village, she says. They are afraid of harassments from the settlers, or worse, as the settlers often are armed with guns. Sometimes the settlers shout at them and the villagers return to the village. On the other side of Yanoun, settlers have raised a fence, fencing in more Palestinian land. They have taken more land from the people in Yanoun and further limited the grazing area for the Yanoun animals. We are told that there is a sort of "no man's land" between the fenced-in area and the last house in that direction, where the villagers are not allowed to graze their animals.

Najiha tells me that there is no longer enough food for the sheep. Food must be bought. Before the settlements, the sheep could graze on the hills and beyond. In those days the herds were twice as large as they are now. Rashid, the Chairman of the Village Council says that soya must be bought – from the USA or Israel. It is 100 NIS² for 50 kilos. Every growing lamb must have 2 kilos a day, the sheep 1.5 kilos a day.

The long term Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territory has transferred large areas into desert. The eastern slopes of the Jordan Valley have significant signs of desertification. The military closures of 85 percent of these areas have led to serious overgrazing, which has led to loss of vegetation, land erosion and desertification. The Israeli authorities have severely neglected the Palestinian environmental issues.

I cannot help thinking about the contrast between the newly built, often beautiful settlements I have seen and Yanoun. The settlements often have a perfect roundabout with an ancient olive tree in the middle while Palestinian land is being depleted.

I cannot help thinking that only a few hundred metres from Yanoun, there are people who wilfully have taken land from the Yanouni villagers. The history of Yanoun reveals that settlers have used violence on the people in Yanoun. The villagers are therefore under constant strain and fear. This could clearly be seen the other day when settlers drove into the village. In the usually silent village, voices were suddenly heard and there were lots of movements. But the car just turned and went away. And we could all exhale.

And I cannot help thinking about the theft of Palestinian land while the world – we – stand beside and watch and let it happen.