Israel has been at war with the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas in Gaza, ever since the massacre of October 7, but there's another increasingly volatile battleground: the West Bank, which has been under Israeli military occupation for six decades.
asserted
which → be → decades
On the west bank of the Jordan River, it's home to over 3 million Palestinians, who hope to make it the heart of their future state.
asserted
it → hope → state
It's also home to over 500,000 Jews who call this Judea and Samaria, their biblical homeland.
asserted
who → call → this
They built communities here called settlements in the hope of making this part of Israel.
asserted
this → build → Israel
In recent months, some militant settlers are ramping up their campaign to violently drive out the Palestinians who live there -- often with impunity -- the Israeli government showing an unwillingness to crack down on the violence.
asserted
government → ramp → violence
With the Israeli election two weeks away, we headed to the arid hilltops of the West Bank that have seen shepherds come and go for thousands of years.
asserted
shepherds → head → years
This is a biblical story: you have two populations – Jewish and Arab; the descendants of Abraham's sons: Isaac and Ishmael fighting over ancestral lands.
asserted
you → have → lands
But with all of today's high tech warcraft – AI, drones, supersonic missiles – the weapons they're using here are sticks and stones and sheep!
asserted
they → use → warcraft
Mordehai Minster cofounded this sheep farm.
asserted
Minster → cofounde → farm
It's a new kind of settlement here in the West Bank from where his herd is driven deeper and deeper into the surrounding Palestinian communities.
asserted
herd → drive → communities
So the idea is you send your sheep down to graze, and then you can say, "That's my land because my sheep are grazing on it"?
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sheep → send → it
When you have sheep, everyone understands.
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everyone → have → sheep
Arabs tend to fight over grazing lands among themselves.
asserted
Arabs → tend → themselves
It's a language that we understand, and they understand.
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they → understand → that
And it's a way to delineate the border.
asserted
it → delineate → border
This is where I graze my sheep.
asserted
I → graze → sheep
You don't take your sheep here.
asserted
You → take → sheep
You don't plant here.
asserted
You → plant → ?
You don't build here.
asserted
You → build → ?
The sheep have taken over huge swaths of land: 20% of the West Bank.
asserted
sheep → take → Bank
In one Palestinian village after the next, herds from these farms have pressed in, and the village shepherds pushed out.
asserted
shepherds → press → farms
They actually seized the land with the-- their sheep.
asserted
They → seize → sheep
The settlers even push sheep into people's homes.
asserted
settlers → push → homes
They enter, they open the gate of the house and take the sheep inside to eat the trees around the house.
asserted
they → enter → house
Some 200 sheep farms have popped up in recent years changing something fundamental: for decades Jewish settlers have put up fences to protect themselves from the active threat of Palestinian terrorism; now it's the Palestinians who are penning themselves in.
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who → pop → themselves
This is kind of new these kinds of farms dotting the West Bank.
asserted
This → dot → Bank
And a lot of them, including this one, have used violence against the villages down around you.
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lot → include → you
Whenever you have ethnic religious communities, especially in the Middle East, fighting over land and resources, that conflict sometimes gets ugly.
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conflict → have → land
The fact that violence exists doesn't change the merit of the right that we have to this land.
asserted
we → exist → land
The violence is often carried out by these young shepherds known as "Hilltop Youth," who have flocked here for a sense of adventure, told they're on a God-given mission to redeem the land.
asserted
they → carry → land
So they routinely storm Palestinian fields and villages, harassing farmers and livestock, cutting olive trees -- over 1,600 incidents so far this year.
asserted
they → storm → incidents
They've torched cars and destroyed property: there's a hardcore of up to 500 of them.
asserted
They → torch → them
Up to a thousand more drift in and out.
asserted
thousand → drift → ?
How did they get here?
asserted
they → get → ?
Those are kids that are ranging age between, I don't know, 15 and 25.
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I → range → 15
They don't do great in school.
asserted
They → do → school
They don't get into the army that easily 'cause maybe behavioral problems.
asserted
They → get → army
So some of them end up in places like this, taking care of sheep, doing construction.
asserted
some → end → construction
Some of these kids may have drug problems.
uncertain
Some → have → problems
They smoke pot.
asserted
They → smoke → pot
…and 84 more, not listed.
The Aporia
