Susya, West Bank – Wadi Raheem is a dry riverbed near the Palestinian village of Susya in the South Hebron hills in the occupied West Bank. The area has a stark beauty that is characterised by rolling hills, rocky outcrops and stunning vistas. Despite the generally poor soil, Palestinians have managed to eke out an existence here – reportedly since at least the 1830s – by practising subsistence farming and animal herding.
It is four o’clock in the afternoon and brutally hot. Khalil al-Harini, who owns part of the wadi, has asked me and two other activists to accompany him as he grazes his sheep. Israeli settlers have been harassing him for decades, but the frequency and severity of the attacks have increased significantly in the months since October 7, and he is worried.
