He thinks he recognises one of them. "It's Jadon," he says. "He always comes to the fields." We scan the horizon, trying to locate them.
Eventually we make out a red blot, one of the men's shirts. Then two more shapes are deciphered. The settlers are hiding among the trees, about 500 metres away, observing.
They move from tree to tree, trying to get a better look. It feels like a game of hide-and-seek, or rather cat and mouse. After about 20 minutes they decide to leave and we watch them walking back up the hill towards their caravan homes, peppered in groups of four or five on the hilltops over-looking the Awarta village fields.
Eventually we make out a red blot, one of the men's shirts. Then two more shapes are deciphered. The settlers are hiding among the trees, about 500 metres away, observing.
They move from tree to tree, trying to get a better look. It feels like a game of hide-and-seek, or rather cat and mouse. After about 20 minutes they decide to leave and we watch them walking back up the hill towards their caravan homes, peppered in groups of four or five on the hilltops over-looking the Awarta village fields.
We chat to the Abu Mahmoud family for 10 minutes until a white jeep appears, driving fast towards us. The family get nervous and motion for us to leave. "It's settlement security," says Hani. "They are crazy. You must come with us." The ISM activists stand their ground and cautiously approach the jeep once it has stopped. The driver queries what they are doing there.
The two men in the jeep are in army uniform, but won't say which security force they are with.
Palestinians say both settlement security and the Israeli Civil Administration for the Occupied Territories both use white jeeps, and they never know which is which.
The two men in the jeep are in army uniform, but won't say which security force they are with.
Palestinians say both settlement security and the Israeli Civil Administration for the Occupied Territories both use white jeeps, and they never know which is which.
They add that settlers who attack them are often dressed in army uniforms - the settlers who attacked Badawe, for example, were dressed in the army's khaki apparel and used M-16 machine guns, the official army weapon.
They never know whether they are just wearing them, or if they are actually doing their official Israeli army service.
I ask Badawe Awad how he can be so sure that the people who attacked him were settlers, given that they were dressed in soldiers' uniforms. "I don't think soldiers from inside Israel would do what they did to me," says Badawe.
They never know whether they are just wearing them, or if they are actually doing their official Israeli army service.
I ask Badawe Awad how he can be so sure that the people who attacked him were settlers, given that they were dressed in soldiers' uniforms. "I don't think soldiers from inside Israel would do what they did to me," says Badawe.