Farkha, with just under 1,800 inhabitants, is idyllically situated on a hill 40 minutes from Ramallah. In the midst of the conservative Palestinian rural population, they have turned a vision into reality here: regular elections and participation of the population in political decision-making processes, solidarity and self-sufficiency as well as equal rights for women. A village full of unusual people: There is Mai, who works as a paralegal and has set up a small catering service with her mother. She also supports Farkha’s women’s cooperative, which sells its traditional Palestinian food as far away as Ramallah and Jerusalem. Mai is 38 years old and unmarried, which is rather unusual here in the countryside. But not in Farkha. Mustafa, 33, has been the mayor of the village for three years. He comes from a progressive family with communist ideals and is one of the driving forces behind Farkha’s development. He is constantly solving problems, organizing help for the residents or chairing village council meetings. Now, however, he is faced with one of the biggest challenges in the village’s history: In October 2023, Israeli settlers built a road at the gates of Farkha – where many of the village’s olive groves are located. The residents say they were threatened by settlers during the harvest. And they are afraid that this could be just the beginning. Because opposite Farkha is the settlement of Ariel, the fourth largest settlement in the West Bank with 20,000 inhabitants.