On the road climbing from the Jordan Valley up to the land of the Tribe of Ephraim I met good people.

Many were happy to see me – wanted to know who I am, why did I come. They praised the place, justifiying their choice to live here in the valley:  Small place. Clean air, away from pollution, away from city's noises and fuss. A friendly place.

Hava Amit welcomed me warmly.

A well kept home with a blooming garden, cats – decorated warm home.

Her life is not easy but she holds her head high.

Her eyes are radiant. A smile on her face. Her voice is soft …. she listens as well – well aware of the other.

A woman after my own heart. There is a beauty in her life, art, family's love. And friends. Traveling across the country. Studying. Good life.

The first Intifada (Arab uprising 1978-1993) and the second Intifada (2000-2005), she said, had their toll on the place. The terrorists' attacks, those who were killed, those who were wounded….. people left.

Recently, the number of religious people within the local population increase. Half of the population are young religious families with children. They combine faith with the ideology of the Greater Land of Israel – community life suits them.

Community life and its members set who stays who goes.

Pablo told me: Here is my home and here are my friends since I immigrated from Argentina. I have nowhere to go, I have no friends elsewhere, here I feel good.

The buildings are also a testament of Ma'ale Efrayim: modest houses, the Council House is an architecture from another place. The fences around the place are electrified with curled barbed wire atop.

Beyond the enclosure brownish yellow hills – the desert. Tranquility and silence, peace and quiet and a fence.

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Ma'ale Efrayim was founded in 1978 as a municipal center for all the settlements of the Jordan Valley, The mountain ridge and the eastern slopes of Samaria.

(Wikipedia)