The recent rise of Palestinian hiking groups is helping people rediscover occupied terrain, but also putting them on a collision course with violent Israeli settlers who are fighting to lay claim to the same land.
BEITILLU, West Bank — Five years ago, Majdi Abu Zaid was invited by a friend to join a recreational hiking group in the West Bank, a chance for Palestinians to rediscover their ancestral landscapes. From the first outing, he was hooked.
He has been hiking for the past five years with Sarha, which means “roaming,” or “wandering” in Arabic, one of many similar groups to gain a following here during covid-era travel bans — giving West Bank urbanites a chance to connect with the land, even as it is rapidly cordoned off by expanding Israeli settlements.
This month, he and his friends set out with Sarha, equipped with trekking poles and provisions from their fruit gardens, to explore a rugged, seven-mile stretch of terrain surrounding Beitillu, a sleepy Palestinian village dotted with archaeological ruins, sheep farms, olive groves, natural springs and, as of last month, a new Israeli outpost.
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