Ba'araa, 9 Deep in the Hebron Hills, the village of Al Fakheet is home to 15 families dependant on herding to sustain their livelihood. Al Fakheet is located in Area C of the West Bank where Israel maintains military and civil control. Residents are forbidden from building roads, electrical grids, water networks, and homes or schools in Area C. To reach Al Fakheet is a 40 minute drive off the main road through rugged terrain. Water is hauled in on tractor trailers in tanks about once a week. Although completely isolated, Francesca Pini, a livelihoods specialist with Oxfam, says people in Al Fakheet are actually completely dependant on international markets. “Herders have been restricted by Israel from using grazing land so they have no choice but to buy animal feed. With the global price of grain continuously rising, herders in Palestine are now spending 60 per cent of their annual income just to feed the sheep.” Yasser lives in Al Fakheet with his mother, Fatmeh, his wife, Hajah, and their 7 children, who range in age from 17 to 2 years old. Children pictured, Yasmeen, 2, Ba’araa, 9, and Younis, 12. Although there are several international aid agencies that provide humanitarian relief in villages like Al Fakheet, Yasser says he has never received any assistance from the Palestinian Authority. “I live in Area C, so the Palestinian Authority can’t come here. I need a government that can protect me, I need help to support my family. If a state means that the government can help me, then it’s a good thing. If not, then nothing will change." Fatmeh, aged 70, first came to Al Fakheet from the town of Yatta with her husband in 1963 because it had the best grazing pastures in the area. Because of the harsh elements in Al Fakheet, the family still kept their house in Yatta as their primary residence. “In the early 80s the Israelis took our house and surrounding land in Yatta. It was 37 acres. Its full of Israeli greenhouses now.” Photograph by David Levene, 15 September 2011.
Ba'araa, 9

Ba’araa, 9

Ba’araa, 9