Um Sultan

We arrived at the farm of Um Sultan (Nabila El-Shami) in the eastern village of Bani Suhayla just as she and her exuberant extended family had finished harvesting a field of hot red chile peppers. The sacks of peppers were carried off to a nearby factory to be turned into filfil mat’hoon, and the family reclined in the shade to rest a bit. Ruddy and energetic, Um Sultan showed us around the meticulously organized and very productive farm, with orchards, vegetable fields, and animal pens all tidily packed into a few rented acres. The family owns land near the eastern border, but their farm there was destroyed by an Israeli incursion in 2003. She told us: