A Palestinian Family With Four Children Lives Here. For Israeli Settlers, It's a Trash Dump
Saturday, February 7, 2026 at 10:06PM by Gideon Levy and Alex Levac 7 February 2026 Haaretz
A herd of cattle from a nearby outpost stormed a Palestinian family's yard, munching on everything in sight – including the reeking pile of trash settlers dumped there days earlier. Israeli soldiers palled around with the intruders, while the residents hid indoors. Another day in the Jordan Valley
Abedalhadi near the pile of rotting dates settlers dumped against the wall of his home. "Is this a life?" Credit: Alex Levac
A large herd of cows descended slowly from hills in the western Jordan Valley, plodding along, trampling everything in their path, leaving behind a trail of steamy droppings.
Tahrir Ea'abiat rushed out of her kitchen, distraught. "The settlers are back," she told her husband, Abedalhadi, whose mood was one of despair and helplessness even before her report. He had already noticed the intruders. All that morning he had tried, unsuccessfully, to repair the fence that encircles their stone-and-tin home, which had collapsed during a recent storm – and now the settlers had appeared yet again. Relatives visiting the Ea'abiats now hurried to leave.
Meanwhile, the few dozen cows lumbered on. Two settlers on horseback and others in a Ranger pickup steered them toward the family's home. The couple has lived here for 20 years, and their four children were born here: three daughters – Rawa, 17, Doua, 16, Sundus, 8 – and 14-year-old Ahmed.
It's safe to assume that in the not-too-distant future they won't be living here anymore. It's impossible to survive under these conditions, day in and day out. Ten families have already abandoned their homesteads in the village of Fasa'il, located north of Jericho in the Jordan Valley, for fear of the intruding settlers. Only the Ea'abiats have remained; a lone tent encampment stands on the other side of the road.
Abedalhadi Ea'abiat peering out of his house in the village of Fasa'il at settlers who once again arrived to harass his family this week. Credit: Alex Levac
Thousands of black flies swarmed around the huge heaps of rotting dates that a settler armed with a long-barreled rifle had dumped two weeks beforehand at the entrance to the family's home, in two successive truckloads. The decomposing, organic waste has been emitting a foul stench ever since.
A hefty dose of diabolical racism and hatred is needed in order for someone to spill piles of such filth next to the home of a family with children. The settler who did it is clearly a sadist. A video clip shows him opening the door of the truck and dumping the mountain of waste. Another settler had filmed the event, apparently, for future generations – in the name of preserving the great heritage of the settlement enterprise.
The putrid mound has become a feature of the landscape.
On Monday morning when we visited, a small group of volunteers from the human rights group Looking the Occupation in the Eye arrived and started to remove the refuse in a wheelbarrow. In short order the police and the army showed up, at the behest of the settlers whose drones detect every movement in the vicinity.
The verbal clash that ensued between the Israeli activists and the army and police was illuminating. It demonstrated yet again the absolute symbiosis between the settler thugs and the security forces, a partnership in which even the lies are shared. In response to the activists' explanation that they were removing a dangerous health hazard, the commander of the masked Israel Defense Forces unit replied: "This is their [the settlers'] territory. I have a photocopy of the contract … There is nothing for you to do here."
A volunteer asked the soldier what connection he had to ownership of the house. "This is their closed, private territory. They [the settlers] were here before them [the Palestinian residents]," he persisted.
In fact, as noted, the family has lived here for two decades, while the illegal settler outposts sprouted up in the past few years. No one purchased the land and no contract exists; indeed, the soldier had refused to show the activists one. Israel has simply declared – unilaterally and illegally – that this area is within the so-called Blue Line, marking the boundary of property ostensibly owned by settlers.
The commander of the police contingent spoke up: "I am asking you to leave this place. Military zone [order]. I saw. I don't have to show you. There is a contract here … this is an area where you are forbidden to be … Leave the site immediately, before I detain all of you for obstructing a police officer."
Thus, by order of the soldiers and police officers, enforcers of the law, the volunteers were compelled to leave. Minutes afterward, the celebrity thug du jour, a blogger who goes by the name Roi Star, showed up and began to berate one of the departing activists: "You little maniac, you're going to meet a lot of Jews in the near future. Your story is over."
The army's response this week to a query from Haaretz, regarding the previous incident in which a settler had dumped the smelly loads of refuse – it later turned out that he had been on reserve duty at the time – was relatively soft: "The incident was investigated, actions were taken to prevent similar cases in the future. The reservist was warned not to approach the structures again, and should it emerge that he has returned for purposes other than shepherding, he will be dealt with by disciplinary means. It should be noted that the area is pastureland that was legally allocated by an officer in the headquarters of the custodian [of absentees' property] of the Civil Administration [a unit of the military government in the territories]: The area lies within the area of jurisdiction of the settlement of Tomer."
"You call this a life?" Abedalhadi says, pointing gloomily at the rancid waste outside his house, even before the herd arrived. The windows are barred for fear of the settlers and there is netting around some of the walls. The large yard is a meager, depressing affair. Cats and chickens roam about. On the path leading up to his house, Abedalhadi built a makeshift barrier after the pickup dumped its rotting load, in an effort to block its return.
We're told that on November 9, dozens of settlers built a fence around the family's residential compound, informing them – without any sort of authorization – that they were forbidden to venture beyond it. After witnessing this, many of the Ea'abiats' neighbors left the next day, the rest within a few weeks. Only Abedalhadi and his family remained.
Abedalhadi Ea'abiat facing a settler filming him, last week. Ten families have already left the village of Fasa'il. Credit: Alex Levac
A few days later, he was fired from his job in the date grove of the settlement of Tomer, where he had worked since arriving here. His employers told him that only if he left his home and evacuated the area would he be allowed back. Since then he's been a victim of daily harassment, under threat and jobless.
In the meantime, the settler-cowboys had arrived with their beef cattle, which charged at and munched on the heap of date waste; others chomped on the vegetation around the Ea'abiats' home, to which a trail of cow pies now led. The children watched and were silent, as were their parents. A tense silence reigned.
Three activists from Looking the Occupation in the Eye whom we'd seen in the morning returned later on, while we were still there, at the family's request. Everyone documented everyone – the settlers filmed the activists, the activists filmed the settlers. Each side thinks it will incriminate the other side by this means. But there's no symmetry here. One group came to defend a family, the other to abuse them. Half a dozen young Israelis had showed up with eyes burning with hatred, not only for the indigenous Palestinians but also for the Jewish activists. Any attempt to talk to them was met with menacing glares and silence.
These are religious men, but without the long sidelocks and huge kippas worn by other pogromists in the West Bank. One of them said that they were from the Petzael Farm (established in 2023). How close is that to here, I asked. "Close enough for this to be our pastureland," was the reply.
An Israeli soldier and settlers facing members of Abedalhadi 's family, last week. An absolute symbiosis between the settler thugs and the security forces, a partnership in which even the lies are shared.Credit: Alex Levac
They rode around the grounds in their pickup and on their horses as if they owned the place. A sign on the Ranger informs us that it was "Purchased by the Settlement Ministry and [the] Settlement Division [of the World Zionist Organization] 2025."
They tore out the barrier that Abedalhadi had erected to protect himself from more garbage trucks – in a lordly, brazen manner befitting the masters around here. "Force David," were the words on the front of their T-shirts said. And on the back: "I will plant them in this land in truth with my whole heart and with my whole soul. Continuing the path of David Libi, may God avenge his blood." Libi, from the Malachei Hashalom (Angels of Peace) settler outpost, operated heavy equipment in the northern Gaza Strip and demolished homes there, while working for his father's company; he was killed on May 29, 2025.
Afterward the intruders tried to steal Abedalhadi's wheelbarrow, which the volunteers had used to try to remove the hill of waste. When the activists shouted angrily, "Why are you stealing that?" the settlers threw the wheelbarrow to the ground, far from the house.
"I am on my own pastureland," one of the interlopers asserted with unabashed arrogance. The Ranger circled around again cockily, stirring up clouds of dust.
Cows munch on the rotting dates near Abedalhadi's home. The children watched in silence, as did their parents. Credit: Alex Levac
The cows were grazing in the family's meadow, by this point. The army returned in the form of an armored jeep from which three masked soldiers, two of them women, emerged. They took a break to roll a cigarette with the settlers – it was clear that they knew each other – and pal around with them; after all they belong to the same generation.
The masks are removed. They are infantry soldiers from the 47th Battalion, armored from head to foot, as is their jeep.
"Do you know that you are in an illegal place?" one of the women asks us and the group of activists. "This area that belongs to someone. To Michal's Farm; there's a contract. You are only hurting the Palestinians when you come here. Bottom line: You can't be here."
Abedalhadi asks the soldiers for a phone number to call "if they come here again." "Who do you mean – the anarchists?" the woman asks. Meanwhile, the "anarchists" are standing mutely by the side: author and researcher Tamar Berger and Gali Hendin, a high-tech professional and daughter of the late writer Yitzhak Ben-Ner – both of whom had come to remove the polluted piles of dates scattered by settlers. These are the anarchists who need to be expelled, according to the soldier.
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