Maskiyyot settlers steal donkeyThe ongoing harassment of Bedouins in communities near Maskiyyot settlement continued today, 18th June 2012, when a group of settlers attempted to steal a donkey from Al Farisiya. 

Living under military occupation, Palestinians in the Jordan Valley have no way of defending themselves, or no legal recourse, when subjected to this harrasment time and time again. Therefore, their only option on this occaision, was to ask the local Mayor, Arif Daraghme, to appeal to the settlers to return the donkey.

Since the hard line Zionist settlers from Shirat Hayam settlement outpost in Gaza came to colonise this area of the Jordan Valley, life for the local Palestinian communities has been horrendous. They have expanded an old disused army base into a base for colonial agression against the Palestinians in all the surrounding villages. 

Bedouin community of Ein El Hilwe with Maskiyyot settlement towering overhead

The community of Ein el Hilwe in Al Maleh have been attacked when watering their cattle at the local spring (and later fined and banned from using the spring by military order), have had one of their children’s horses killed in from of him, and have been driven from their homes on numerous occaisions (most notably in April 2010 and March 2011), and had many of their homes demolished in August 2010. At the same time they’ve seen a massive expansion of Maskiyyot settlement, as more and more houses are built, surrounded by fencing. Water pipe running through Ein El Hilwe to Maskiyyot settlement

Electricity pylons running over bedouin communities to Maskiyyot settlement