On "Ancient Water Cisterns" and "Shepherds"

Caught this:

Palestinians fear for ancient West Bank water source

RASHAYIDA, West Bank (Reuters) - Hewn from rock, the cavernous cisterns which dot the desert beyond Bethlehem have for centuries harvested winter rain to provide shepherds and their flocks with water through summer.  Under a baking sun, an elderly Bedouin explains how cisterns he remembers from childhood, many of them restored to full working order in the last few years, are once again helping his goat-herding community to survive.

Shepherds?  Centuries?

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Genesis 37:2-17 ...Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brethren, being still a lad...12 And his brethren went to feed their father's flock in Shechem. 13 And Israel said unto Joseph: 'Do not thy brethren feed the flock in Shechem? come, and I will send thee unto them.' And he said to him: 'Here am I.' 14 And he said to him: 'Go now, see whether it is well with thy brethren, and well with the flock; and bring me back word.' So he sent him out of the vale of Hebron, and he came to Shechem. 15 And a certain man found him, and, behold, he was wandering in the field. And the man asked him, saying: 'What seekest thou?' 16 And he said: 'I seek my brethren. Tell me, I pray thee, where they are feeding the flock.' 17 And the man said: 'They are departed hence; for I heard them say: Let us go to Dothan.' And Joseph went after his brethren, and found them in Dothan.

Genesis 46:33 And it shall come to pass, when Pharaoh shall call you, and shall say: What is your occupation? 34 that ye shall say: Thy servants have been keepers of cattle from our youth even until now, both we, and our fathers; that ye may dwell in the land of Goshen; for every shepherd is an abomination unto the Egyptians.'

I Samuel 17:39-41:  And David girded his sword upon his apparel, and he essayed to go, [but could not]; for he had not tried it. And David said unto Saul: 'I cannot go with these; for I have not tried them.' And David put them off him. 40 And he took his staff in his hand, and chose him five smooth stones out of the brook, and put them in the shepherd's bag which he had, even in his scrip; and his sling was in his hand; and he drew near to the Philistine.

Do I mean to imply that this is the Land of Israel and since over 3500 years ago Jews have been living here and many of them were shepherds, some of them future Patriarchs and Kings?

And that Reuters would never think to assume that Jews belong in this land, at least as much as Arabs (and probably more)?  Or would think of Jews as shepherds.

Only Arabs deserve sympathy as a form of the "noble savage" concept also expressed this way:

...Lawrence’s ideas then were no different to the usual construct of the noble savage so beloved by colonial types – the Sikh in India, the Pathan in Afghanistan, the Zulu in South Africa – all singled out and hero-worshipped for their “warrior” qualities.

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