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October 22, 2023   Mu‘arrajat. Text by David Shulman, Photographs by David Shulman and Margaret Olin

/ Margaret Olin / 25 Comments
Walls of the guest house in Mu‘arrajat. photographs: David Shulman, 2023

Very hard times. The hardest I have known. Like everyone, I’ve suffered grievous losses in my life. I buried a young, brilliant student, Liat. I’ve been to war. I’ve seen awful things happen to my friends on the West Bank. But worst of all is to watch the moral disintegration of a community, my home.

None of us here will ever recover fully from the horrors perpetrated by Hamas on October 7th. Hamas has given new meaning to the word “inhuman.” You’ve seen the pictures and read the words.

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‘Ein Samiya, Al Baqa’a‘, Wadi a-Siq, July 19, 2023. Text and photographs: Margaret Olin

/ Margaret Olin / 2 Comments

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Two days ago occupation forces demolished the school in ‘Ein Samiya.

Ruins of `Ein Samiya, July, 2023

The school was the only building left standing in May when the villagers packed up and fled. In one of our posts, David Shulman related how, after months of terrorism by Jewish settlers, the occupation forces dealt the final blow by handing over a whole flock of sheep to settlers. I had not seen `Ein Samiya, so in July, when I came to Jerusalem, I asked activist Arik Ascherman, director of the NGO Torat Tzedek, to take me there. He readily agreed. Now feels like the right moment to post these pictures.

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A Brief Conversation in Gawawis, July 8, 2023: Text and Photographs, Margaret Olin

/ Margaret Olin / 4 Comments

If someone is going to warn you to stay away from your own land, is it better to hear it spoken fluently in your native language? So it appeared in Gawawis last Saturday, at least for a moment.*

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May 27, 2023.   ‘Ein Samiya. Text and Photographs, David Shulman

/ Margaret Olin / 10 Comments
‘Ein Samiya seen from above in July, 2020. Photograph: Jacob Magid

The village of ‘Ein Samiya is no more.

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Muarrajat, January 20, 2023. Text: David Shulman

/ Margaret Olin / 6 Comments
‘Auja, May, 2022. Photograph: Margaret Olin

Umm Rashid, the most intrepid of the ‘Auja shepherdesses, has sold off most of her sheep and goats. I don’t have all the details; a close friend of hers sold her herd a few months earlier. I assume she couldn’t take any more of the ceaseless harassment, beatings, and threats from the settlers. But I don’t think this is the end of the story.

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January 7, 2023    Gawawis, Ar-Rakiz, Twaneh. Text: David Shulman

/ Margaret Olin / 8 Comments
Gawawis, August, 2022. Photograph: Margaret Olin

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Jibrin says, “I hardly ever sleep. Maybe an hour in the night.”

“Because of the settlers?” I say.

“Yes. I’m afraid. A thousand times they have told me they will slaughter me.”

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December 2, 2022 Al-‘Auja. Text: David Shulman. Photographs: Margaret Olin and David Shulman

/ Margaret Olin / 4 Comments
August, 2022

Just after dawn, the air still cold; Umm Rashid tells us on the phone that she plans to take the herd deeper into the hills, closer to the big settlement, where there’s more edible green on the ground. Good, we say, we’re with you. But it takes some time before we find each other in the open spaces of the desert. A second herd, Nawal’s, is just visible on the top of the ridge.

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November 15, 2022. Ar-Rakiz. Text: David Shulman; Photographs: Margaret Olin

/ Margaret Olin / 4 Comments

Sometimes reality reveals itself in a few stark images.

Harun in January
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October 29, 2022.  Umm al-‘Ara’is. Text by David Shulman. Photographs by Margaret Olin

/ Margaret Olin / 1 Comment

By 8:00 when we arrive at Simri, some twenty soldiers are already waiting for us.

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Random Stopping: A Day in the South Hebron Hills: Umm Al-‘Ara’is, Sh’ab al-Butam, Ar-Rakiz

/ Margaret Olin / 2 Comments

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Umm Al-‘Ara’is. We must see at least twenty soldiers. The first few are friendly. They say they’d been stationed in the territories for four months. When Zev asks them to describe their duties, one of them answers, “stopping people randomly from going to work.” This sets a pattern for the day.

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