Life next to a settlement

Mahmoud has lived on this land for years and before him, his father and grandfather (and maybe more) have lived in that spot. The view from the hillside is beautiful -- your eye skims over the valley and up to the next hillside which is covered with houses, with terraces and with groves of olive trees.

If you look closer, you'll see a pile of rubble in the foreground of your scan. As you turn on the knoll of the hill, you'll see another pile of rubble. Finally, as you turn 180 degrees from the view of the groves of trees on the far hillside, you'll see the fence, buildings and towers that are an Israeli settlement.

Mahmoud's land abuts the land that the settlers have claimed and built upon. For the most part, they have been good neighbors with Mahmoud (and he counts the mayor of the settlement as one of his friends), but there has been trouble spanning the past 25 years regarding the land.

First, one of the houses on the property was demolished by the Israeli government (the reason given? He didn't have a permit -- a thing that is close to impossible to get nowadays and wasn't necessary in the past), then a second house was demolished (explaining the two piles of rubble). Several times, Mahmoud's sheep have been poisoned. The most recent of these incidents was 2 years ago when 19 sheep were poisoned to death and another 20 fetuses aborted because of the same poison. Lest you doubt the story, Mahmoud has documentation of all three incidents -- two from the International Committee of the Red Cross and the other from a veterinarian.

Next, invaders came onto Mahmoud's property and into his house (a very simple two room home that houses a large family). The invaders roused Mahmoud from his sleep (he was enjoying the night air by sleeping on the patio) and took him aside while the entered the house, damaged the television and radio, then cut the telephone line.

And, in growing desperation to make life so distasteful and awful for Mahmoud and his family that they would rather leave than stay, one night three men (two who spoke only Hebrew and one who also spoke Arabic) came to the house, took Mahmoud out far away from the house and offered him a suitcase full of money (American dollars that probably totaled in the millions) in exchange for him abandoning the house and his claim to the land. This offer has been made several times, and each time Mahmoud refuses to make the deal. The men who come at night have also offered to send Mahmoud and his family to the United States where they would have "a better life."

But, Mahmoud has refused to leave. His life is here -- on the land, with the crops, trees and amongst the flock of sheep. He continues to farm (wheat, olives, sheep) and to live, to feast and to welcome guests, to trust and to be friends with his neighbors of the settlement. His needs are quite simple and he sees no reason, incentive, nor legal justification to leave his land.

This is his home. These are his roots. This is where he will live and where his sons and daughters-in-law will raise their families. Mahmoud's resistance is heard loud and clear when he says, "I just want to build a home for my family. I don't want anything fancy. I just want to build something simple on my land."