About Shai Dromi

Contending with a plague of robberies - by Myra Dromi

It's just twenty years (1987) since Shai Dromi first came to this isolated sheep farm in the northern Negev. The area had been designated as grazing land...Yattir Pastures... by the Department of Agriculture and leased by the Israel Land Authority to those nature lovers and fools who were willing to forgo the comforts of urban living for the challenge (and delight) of struggling entirely on their own to establish a viable farm. Unlike Moshav farms, there were no subsidies for infrastructure, for farm equipment etc. There was no cozy farmhouse with a long time mortgage. Two old railroad cars served as home with a few rickety sheds plus a dilapidated old bus served as workshop, storage sheds and extra sleeping place for friends who came to help. The farm was, and still is, unconnected to the electric grid and telephone system. Water had to be brought in tank by tank. Today there is a pipeline supplying water from Mekorot.

Shai came with some 80 sheep, a modest herd with the potential to grow and begin to show a profit within a few years. Insofar as he was able, he worked the farm and raised his sheep in harmony with nature and an eye to protect the environment. Whenever he could he worked at outside jobs to earn the money required to maintain his herd and farm until the day when it would become self supporting.

Unfortunately, that day never came! It seems Shai had hidden, invisible partners- thieves who broke in time and again and stole the fruits of his labor. They came in the dead of night, cutting through his fences, breaking his locks, and making off with their booty. One night they came while Shai was away and burnt his railroad car house to ashes, leaving him to live in a borrowed tent that year. Over the years they've stolen tractors, horses and, most devastating of all, sheep. Sometimes they got away with only a few head of sheep, but three times they stole the entire herd. In 1989 the entire herd was stolen and about 2/3 was recovered by Shai's own efforts. Once again in 1994 some 60 head were stolen and recovered from where they had been abandoned by the thieves (apparently they ran off in fear of discovery). It's a happy occasion to get back your stolen sheep, but just three weeks later the thieves came again and made off with the entire herd, which was never recovered.

Once again Shai began to build a herd, this time in partnership with a friend. By 2001, the herd numbered over 300, most of them in advanced stages of pregnancy. At long last a viable herd which will start to show a profit. And once again, the entire herd was stolen despite all the efforts of the partners to guard them. Shai and his friends tracked the tractor into a dangerous Palestinian area and as it was during the time of the second intifada Shai and his friends were unable, on their own, to go any further. The police never discovered the perpetrators or recovered the herd.

Over the years, the police were notified of all the major incidents, and usually came to investigate, even sending out trackers to locate the stolen herds. But in all the years since these robberies started, only once was Shai's property recovered (the 60 abandoned sheep which Shai himself found). No arrests were ever made and nobody was ever prosecuted.

This kind of agricultural thievery is today a plague throughout the Negev and throughout Israel. Farmers stand by impotent while their hard earned, very hard earned, property is snatched from under their noses and the criminals run free and grow bolder and bolder with the passing of time. Many farmers have given up seeking an easier, safer life. Other farmers have given in, and are now paying protection money to the very criminals who would otherwise deplete their farms and their barns of everything of value. And those farmers who do not give up or give in are in danger of physical attack, such as occurred at Tel Adashim and in the cases of Moshe Har Shemesh and Guy M. and many others.

After the robbery of 2001, Shai once again started to build a herd, by borrowing, bartering and sheer hard work. One lamb at a time with whatever money he could scrape together. During the day he worked on his farm and also outside work. He moved into the sheep pen, sleeping together with the sheep as the best means of protection he could afford. His dogs and a flock of geese were his only warning system. There were repeated signs of break ins till, after one night when he was absent from the sheep pen, he awoke in the morning to find all five of his dogs poisoned and his only tractor stolen. Police once again came and together with Shai tracked the thieves and tractor along a route which the police say is very familiar to them, but once again with no arrests, no suspects and of course no regaining of stolen property. The savagery of the robbers and the frequency of the break-ins impelled Shai to acquire a new watchdog and to move his horses from their stable and put them too in the sheep pen so that he could guard them.

Just three weeks after this incident, on January 13 of this year, after Friday night dinner with his family and other guests, Shai retired to his little room in the sheep pen. It was about 3 a. m. when Shai awoke and leapt to investigate noises in sheep pen. He saw his new watchdog in the throes of death by poisoning, his fences cut, and locks broken. In the dark of the night he perceived four intruders coming towards him and found himself face to face with those who threaten him. When Shai shot at those criminals he clearly acted to protect himself, his family and all that is dear to him.

It is surely a gross distortion of the intention of the law when hard working, innocent victims like Shai into lawbreakers for their attempts to defend their homes and themselves while the true criminals remain undeterred and free to wreak havoc at their will.