On Friday afternoon, 5 May 2020, Ziad Makhamreh was out grazing his flock on his land. Suddenly, a settler appeared before him with two large dogs, which he set on him. Makhamreh fled the scene with his flock, as the settler and the dogs chased after him. When he finally reached his doorstep, the settler threatened to harm his family if he dared graze the flock at that spot again. Shortly after, two other armed settlers arrived at Makhamreh’s doorstep and threatened him, too.
The settler with the dogs had come from the direction of Nof Nesher, a settlement outpost also known as Havat Talia.
Three days later, on Sunday morning, while Makhamreh was watering the flock from a well on his land, the settler reappeared and drove him and the flock out. Makhamreh went home and returned to his pastureland at 14:00 P.M. This time, he discovered that settlers had stolen a substantial amount of his wheat crop, which he had reaped and laid out to dry two days earlier. Makhamreh called the Israeli police. When the officers arrived, they advised him to file a complaint at the police station in the settlement of Kiryat Arba.
The settlement outpost of Nof Nesher was founded in 1996, about 800 meters south of Makhamreh’s land. In 1998, the Mitzpe Yair outpost was founded about 900 meters north of his land. The residents of Bir al-‘Eid, like those of other villages in the Masafer Yatta area, were expelled from their lands by the Israeli military in 1999. After waging a legal battle, they were permitted to return to their lands in 2009. Since then, they have been suffering, along with the rest of the area’s residents, from incessant harassment by settlers and the military.
Makhamreh explained why he chose not to file a complaint about the assaults and the theft at the Kiryat Arba police station:
The settlers keep attacking me, and I’ve filed complaints with the police several times. Every time I come to the police station, the officers force me to wait outside for hours before they allow me to enter. When I file the complaint, they demand evidence of the settlers’ involvement. On January 2019, a settler attacked and beat me in front of soldiers. The police arrived while my face was bleeding. The officers took me to the Kiryat Arba station to file a complaint. In the end, they charged me with assaulting the settler and ordered me to pay 1,000 shekels (~285 USD) bail to get released.
The settlers from the Nof Nesher outpost, which was erected less than a kilometer from my home, attack us all the time. We know them by now: they’re the sons of Yaakov Talia, who established the outpost. They chase after our sheep and us and prevent us from watering them at the Bir al-‘Eid well.