Jinba village by Hamdan Huraini
My name is Issa Younis Muhammad, I am 48 years old, I was born and I still live in my village Jinba.
Janba is one of the villages of Masafer Yatta, located southeast of Yatta. Our life in Janba is a simple and beautiful life. We wake up early every morning and start working with the sheep , collecting milk and grazing. My role was to take care of the sheep. I was tending the sheep at an early age. I will never forget the land of my village that I love, where I have been living since my childhood in its mountains and valleys, and I played in its plains for days.
I was going with sheep in the valleys and mountains of Masafer Yatta . We were a group of shepherds taking our sheep together, and I will never forget the teapot that I used to make on the wood. It was the most wonderful tea in the world. I also remember the beautiful days of Ramadan when break fast is served, the family sits together and prepares their Iftar, and then the young people meet and stay up together under the beautifully shining stars, we talk and laugh together until late at night.
But this beautiful and wonderful life that I and the people of the village of Janba used to live has changed today into a life of fear and terror. Our lives have been turned upside down, the Israeli occupation came and started destroying our stable life. It came in the month of Ramadan of 1985 and destroyed all the caves and all the old buildings, leaving behind the destruction and devastation of that day when the lives of the people of Janba were turned from a safe life to a life of complete darkness. After that day of destruction, people started restoring houses and caves until life gradually returned to life like before. That was until 1999, when the occupation forces returned again and all the residents in the village were evicted.
Today, our life in Masafer Yatta has become very difficult. The occupation closes the roads in Masafer Yatta, demolishing homes, never showing mercy.
A month ago, I submitted a petition to the court in order to protect my house and a barn for sheep, but it was rejected. Now I do not sleep at night thinking about what I will do if I lose my house and my sheep. This simple house means a lot to me: it is like a heart in the body. I have memories and moments with my children and with my father and mother that I cry over every night. How do they destroy the beautiful life that my father drew for me, but I could not draw it for my children because the Israeli occupation did not allow me to show my children the beautiful life of Masafer Yatta. Nonetheless, I taught them the meaning of the love of the earth, the meaning of the smell of its soil in winter. All I wish is that my previous life will come back so I can live it again. This hope keeps me alive
.