WEST BANK: Palestinian family isolated from their village and separated from their land by Israeli barrier

A Palestinian family from the West Bank village of Jayyous is separated from its agricultural land by the Israeli barrier, while another is isolated from the rest of the village and from its land by the divide which surrounds and runs through parts of the West Bank. For over four years, Palestinian farmer Abdul Latif Beida from the West Bank village of Jayyous has had to cross through a gate in a double layer of electronic fence and barbed wire to reach his field and olive trees. He can only do this during short, designated times of the day, and only if he has obtained the necessary permit from the Israeli authorities. "If it is time for harvesting (grain crops) or picking olives, they (Israeli authorities) give us permits to enter our land," Beida said as he and his wife pulled weeds from around some of their olive trees. "You need a permit, you need to pass through gates, and there is limited time (to pass through the gates). It is a disgrace," Beida said. Heaped in his land are the gnarled remains of a huge 400-year-old olive tree he said Israeli forces tore from his plot. Olives are a major Palestinian cash crop and a symbol of continuity on land tended by families for generations. Harvests used to be joyous occasions for family reunions, with relatives coming from far and wide to help out, until Israel imposed a military clampdown on the West Bank and Gaza Strip in response to a Palestinian uprising which began in 2000. For the past few years, the olive harvest in the most fertile belt of the arid region has been disrupted by Israel's controversial construction of a barrier across the West Bank, cutting off thousands of Palestinian farmers from their crops. Israeli authorities confiscated 20,000 square metres of Beida's land to construct the nearby segment of the barrier; the remaining 30,000 square metres lie beyond the divide. Long before work started in 2002, the spread of Jewish settlements had been eating into Palestinian rural holdings. In recent years, extremist settlers have periodically chopped down Palestinian olive groves without prosecution. Construction of the 680-km (422-mile) mix of electronic fences, cement walls and trenches may prove the single biggest strike against the foundation of Palestinian life on the land, U.N. and World Bank studies indicate. The World Court declared the planned barrier, more than half of which is completed, illegal two years ago, but Israel has ignored the non-binding ruling. In a 2003 study based on an official map, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said 274,000 Palestinians could wind up marooned between the barrier and Israel's border, or in enclaves created by the structure once construction was complete. Israel's Foreign Ministry rejected the findings, saying that only a small percent of Palestinians would be west of the barrier. One of these enclaves is that in which the Abu Shareb family has found itself marooned, isolated not only from its land but also from the rest of the village. Abu Shareb's hut, made of mud, cement blocks and tin roofing, is visible from Beida's land. The two plots are separated by the barrier, but the two former neighbours still shout out to each other every now and then and exchange greetings. "Abu Ammar (Ali Abu Shareb) is a poor man, he has two sheep, his brother gave him this house, this tin shack," said Beida of his neighbour. "He has a family, his children left school and they now herd the sheep. And he is sitting in this house, he does not go anywhere. He leaves it only when he needs something. God help him." Israel says the barrier is needed to keep out suicide bombers and gunmen waging a three-year-old Palestinian revolt. But by often meandering from Israel's border well into the West Bank, the barrier has separated hundreds of thousands of people from fields, markets, schools and public services from the rest of the territory where Palestinians seek a state. Tens of thousands of olives trees have been uprooted, thousands of hectares (acres) of rural property appropriated and scarce water sources threatened by its construction, according to international studies. And by appearing to annex territory where Jewish settlements have proliferated, the barrier is compounding obstacles to a "road-map" to peace, its U.S.-led sponsors say. Ali Abu Shareb's son Muhammad must wait at an Israeli military-manned gate to get home after herding the family's sheep. He and many Palestinian farmers in villages like Jayyous must wait for hours each day in the hope of crossing the barrier and tending their crops or groves on the slopes beyond. "I come here and wait until it is the time to open the gate and then I go home (...) My family and our house and everything is on the other side (...) We are alone," Muhammad Abu Shareb said, before two Israeli soldiers opened two sets of gates, inspected the boy's permit and let him pass the barrier and walk home. Israel has built 29 "farm gates" along the first 150 km (90 miles) in what it says is a policy of ensuring that farmers can tend their fields. Palestinians say the gates have been open for only brief periods at varying times and are sometimes shut for days on end. Israel says such closures are due to "security alerts". Villagers complain of "collective punishment" and say their harvests are severely impaired. Israel's Defence Ministry said they grant compensation to farmers who file complaints. Israel requires Palestinians living within the "closed military zone" of the barrier to hold permits to transit farm gates or pass checkpoints en route to and from other villages. Local municipal officials say most of the permits have been issued to the very young or old or to others who moved abroad years ago - rather than to male residents in their 20s, 30s and 40s who form the overwhelming majority of olive growers and other farmers. An Israeli army spokeswoman said Israel gives permits to anyone except those deemed a security threat. On the other side of the barrier lies the Abu Shareb family hut, where the eight family members cook their meals on an open-air wood fire. The barrier not only separates them from their agricultural land, but also from the other 3,000 or so residents of Jayyous. Before construction on the barrier began, they used to rely on access to the village for food, water, school for their children and feed for their livestock. Their home lies within the West Bank, approximately three miles from the Green Line and Israeli territory. Ali Abu Shareb said his children left school after the barrier went up because they were not always able to obtain Israeli permits to cross the barrier and reach the village. They do not have access to electricity or running water. The International Committee of the Red Cross provides them with monthly supplies of fresh water. At noon on a recent day the nearby barrier gate was opened, and a Reuters producer was allowed to pass to Abu Shareb's house for ten minutes. The soldiers did not allow the cameraman through and he had to wait just outside the gate. Ali Abu Shareb told of how he hopes his possessions will prove his ownership of the land and prevent his eviction by Israeli authorities from the area. "I bought 10 sheep, I bought them with a loan, so I will stay here, and they (Israeli authorities) will say: he has some belongings here so he can stay," Ali Abu Shareb said, before the visitor left and the gates again shut him and his family members in their enclave.

ITN Source | March 16, 2007

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