Tag: Tubas

I have just returned from the Jordan Valley – an area that takes up 30% of the West Bank but is almost entirely annexed by Israel. It’s the most fertile land in the West Bank with massive underground water reserves, yet the Israeli Army and settlements control 98% of this water and 95% of the land. Olmert has openly declared that he wants to annex the Jordan Valley and make it part of Israel. Once again, I am using my ‘privilege’ as an International. Palestinians are barred from going to this part of their country. To go there they have to fulfill one of three conditions:

1. They have to live in the Jordan Valley area, in which case they get a Jordan Valley ID – they are not allowed to move there so can only meet this condition if they already lived there before the restrictions were applied.
2. They work in one of the Israeli settlements – in which case the Settlement issues them with a temporary Permit to enter the area.
3. They are issued a DCO permit which has to be authorized by the Army.

We are lucky enough to have a host who lives here and has the right ID. There is a range of mountains between the Jordan Valley and the rest of the West bank, so to get there without passing through one of the many checkpoints you would have to walk over the mountains which takes at least 3 hours. This is also very dangerous as the Israeli Army uses the mountains for ‘exercises’ and they are littered with landmines.

Once we had made it through the checkpoints we drove down the highway, surrounded by settler plantations. We could see the neat white houses of the Israeli Settlements – there are 6,400 settlers in the Jordan Valley. We also saw the homes of the 52,000 Palestinians who still live here. These were in small villages of concrete houses, and others that look more like shantytowns, with houses put together with tin and plastic. This is not because they are poor – although they clearly are – it is because the Palestinians here are banned from building new houses, or even improving or repairing their existing homes. The villages have had all their land stolen from them, except for a few meager fields, and are surrounded by the settlements. There is no public transport here so we had to hire a taxi for the day – of course it had to be a taxi driver with an ID or permit that allowed him into this area.

We were very keen for the taxi to slow down, or stop, so we could take photos, but were told that the army and the settlers control these roads, and in a Palestinian car we were not allowed to stop. When we did persuade him to stop he immediately had to jump out, open the bonnet, and pretend he was filling up with water.

For everyone living here in the Jordan Valley: to exist IS to resist. There is very little health care, education is limited, there are no phone lines or public transport, and often there is no electricity. There are no Universities. If anyone moves out of the Jordan Valley so they can access these services more easily for their family, they will lose their Jordan Valley ID and their right to be here – every time somebody does this it is a small victory for Israel in it’s aim to remove all Palestinians from this area. Every Palestinian we met told us this.

We spent a day here, seeing houses that had been demolished, a school where they are taught in tents, farmers who are struggling to be able to overcome all the restriction Israel places on them so they can sell their produce and survive. We will write more about these soon.

At the end of the day we were in the village of Bardala in the north of the Jordan Valley, and wanted to go to Tubas, the nearest town which is just 20 km away. Our host would be able to make this journey be going through Tayasir checkpoint, and would get home within the hour if the checkpoint let him through. Without the checkpoint it would take him just 20 minutes. However, as internationals we cannot use this checkpoint.

The next best thing would be for us to stay in Jerusalem for the night. But our host is Palestinian and not resident in Jerusalem. He therefore can’t go into Jerusalem. He has the wrong ID.

We therefore set off on a 200km journey. We drove south down the highway towards Jericho. At Al Auja we turned towards the west to go over the mountains. Before long we were in a queue at a checkpoint out of the Jordan Valley. More showing of IDs and passports. We had a fairly uneventful journey as we traveled along many windy roads through the villages and Beir Zeit. Then, at Huwawa checkpoint, we had to get out of our taxi and walk through the checkpoint, but nobody needed to check our passports and IDs.

We got into another taxi, and I thought we were on our way to Tubas. Nothing is ever so simple here. A bit further down, over several very rough bits of road that had been dug up by the army, the taxi stopped. We were on a dark country road with no lighting but our Palestinian host got out of the car as if all was normal. In front of us blocking the road was a mound of soil about 8ft high. We clambered over it, slipping a bit but not getting hurt, walked down the road a bit further, and come to another mound just the same, but this time it was possible to follow a track around it. And there we found several taxis waiting for a fare as if this was the most normal thing in the world. We got a taxi, which, a few more meters down the road, very carefully drove over the tracks that had developed in yet another mound blocking the road, then, at last, onward to Tubas.

We have met a lot of people over the last two days and seen the reality of Israeli Apartheid that is being imposed on the Palestinian people. Despite this we have been welcomed by everybody, and offered more food, tea and coffee that it would ever be possible to consume.

http://brightonpalestine.org/blog/?p=19

I was convinced by a friend to take a trip to the Jordan Valley this week. This is my fourth trip to Palestine but I have never visited the region and have heard relatively little about it. This is symptomatic of the condition of the valley, it is largely forgotten by the international community and is rarely visited. This isolation serves the Israeli state’s aim of annexation and ethnic cleansing of the valley.

I travelled to the Jordan valley from Ramallah. Ramallah’s cosmopolitan atmosphere contrasts starkly to the rural isolation of the valley just 45 minutes away. The valley is impossible for most Palestinians to travel to. Only Palestinians who were born in and live in the valley have ID to travel through the checkpoint. Others must apply for a permit from the army local administration (DCO). One of my Palestinian travelling companions, a worker with a local NGO, was detained at the checkpoint at the entrance to the valley while soldiers checked her permit.

As we drove through the valley toward Al Jiftlik we saw neatly cultivated fields on either side of the road, thousands of Dunums of palm trees and commercial crops like tomatoes, peppers and herbs. Scores of greenhouses stretched along the road past the illegal settlement of Mekhora. Many of the greenhouses were neighbored by packing houses owned by Carmel Agrexco.

Carmel Agrexco (www.agrexco.com) is a 75% Israeli state owned company dealing with 70% of the exports of settler fresh produce from the West Bank. A majority of their goods come from the Jordan Valley. They are able to transport their produce from packing houses in the valley to European markets within 24 hours and have distribution depots in most countries in Europe. They distribute their produce to most major supermarket chains in the UK, but like the Jordan Valley their name is not widely known.

The price of a box of tomatoes bought from the Carmel Agrexco is the suffering of the Palestinian population of the Jordan Valley. From 1967 Israel has sought to establish settlements in the valley and deprive the Palestinians of access to the land. In 2006 6 400 settlers live in 13 illegal settlements in the valley and 52 000 Palestinians. 95% of the land is controlled by the settlers who also control 98% of the water. Palestinians live in 36 villages which are not permitted to expand. In the Israeli controlled areas the building of new structures is not permitted and repairs on existing structures are also forbidden. These building regulations are enforced by demolitions of structures which the IDF deem ‘illegal’.

Agriculture in the valley is being strangled by the expansion of settlements and by the fact that all Palestinian produce grown in the valley must go through Tayasir checkpoint to reach markets in the rest of Palestine. Farmers must pay middlemen to take their produce to the checkpoint, be subjected to humiliating searches by the IDF, transfer the goods to another vehicle on the other side of the checkpoint before driving it to the market. This whole process takes around eight hours or more and drives down profits for farmers making farming barely financially viable. The only other alternative is to work as an uncontracted, casual day labourer on one of the illegal settlements for, on average, 40-50 shekels a day on land stolen from Palestinians.

Carmel Agrexco gave disclosure in a UK court case to the effect that they have packing houses in the illegal Israeli settlements of Mekhora, Mehola, Argaman, Ro’I, Hamra, Gaddid and Bet Ha Arava in the Jordan Valley. These settlement are making a fortune out of the suffering of the local Palestinian population. An international campaign is needed to challenge Carmel Agrexco and show that the international community will not accept the ethnic cleansing of the Valley

by Asa and Sarah

At 11am on Tuesday the 22nd of November residents of the Tubas area held a dignified demonstration against the Israeli checkpoint near Tayasir village. Around 100 Palestinians were joined by about 25 Israeli and international supporters. The shebab (youth) of the region were mostly in school at the time, so the demonstration was mostly made up of mature, respected men of the community as well as several local women.

Protesters marched towards the checkpoint where they significantly outnumbered the IOF presence. It would have been relatively easy for the group to occupy the checkpoint non-violently, which must have been clear to the soldiers too. However, the organisers of the demonstration had decided beforehand on a non-confrontational approach. For around an hour the protesters stood facing the soldiers holding banners and signs with slogans such as “Yes to the application of international law” (in Arabic), and “Checkpoint = Chokepoint” (in English). The protest included a time of prayer for the Muslim men who were in attendance.

During the quiet assembly, the checkpoint guard continued to increase in number, presumably in anticipation of a checkpoint breach. Also two snipers assumed position on a roof in the military compound and maintained constant sight on the group. The soldiers were to be frustrated that they did not provoke a violent reaction, and the only activity at the checkpoint was the arrival of the Israeli activists who refused to show their IDs while joining the group assembled on the western entrance. There were intervals of chanting and the sound of an F16 and two helicopters flying in the vicinity but otherwise all was calm.

At the signal of the the Palestinian leadership, the assembly dispersed quietly.

The Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committee (PARC) in Tubas organised the demonstration to draw attention to the nature of the occupation in the isolated Tubas region. Over the last year the checkpoint has cut Palestinian villages in the area off from each other and Palestinians from their agricultural land.

The villages of Bardala, Ein Al Beda, Cardala and Wadi Al Malech are in an enclave in the Jordan Valley, the only entry and exit point to which is the Tayasir checkpoint. Anyone who is not registered on their I.D. card as being from these villages or has a time limited permit is forbidden to enter by the Israeli military. In order to be allowed to move freely many residents of this village have registered there addresses in Tubas itself. Now, if they leave their villages they are forbidden to return.

Tayaseer and Aqaba are in an area considered a “Military Zone”. Occupation officials have made no secret of their opinion that Aqaba “just should not be there”. Recently the military confiscated villagers sheep and burnt there grazing grounds. According to Ha’aretz (26th March 1999), 8 villagers from the village were killed and 43 wounded by the Israeli military between 1967 when they “adopted” it as a training facility and September 2000 when they were forced to pull out after the village brought a successful case against the them to the Israeli high court. More recently, the military declared all the village homes to be “illegally built” and threatened to demolish the whole village, issuing demolition orders in the village. These efforts were defeated by international protests.

Although one village in the area removed the military through legal action, it was clear to us that the region is still very much used by the IOF as a training grounds. The military presence in the air and on the ground during the protest was in stark contrast to the calm face of the locals and the action they orgainsed.