Tag: Wadi Qana

Resistance to the destruction of olive trees in Wadi Qana

Tuesday, 17th March 2015, four farmers in the Salfit valley of Wadi Qana were issued with notices that they had 48 hours to remove their olives trees or they would be removed at their own cost. Failure to execute the orders are punishable by imprisonment, or fines up to the maximum penalty of the law.

Supporters, many from the nearby village of Deir Istiya, as well as locals and internationals, turned out in anticipation of soldier presence or settler provocation, but no conflict took place.

warrant

A crowd of approximately 250 supporters gathering in the valley were met by a festive atmosphere. Representatives from various organisations in conjunction with the Deir Istiya Municipality converged to remove waste from the spring and its surroundings.

In 2008 and 2011 farmers of Wadi Qana were issued with similar notices.  These removal orders were not carried out. In 2012 trees were removed without notice. Approximately 3,000 trees have been destroyed in Wadi Qana by settler attacks and by order of Israeli authorities.

wadaq2

The Deir Istiya region has a population of approximately 12,000 people, 4,000 of whom live in town. The illegal settlements of the area, of which seven surround Wadi Qana, house approximately 15,000 settlers. Wadi Qana itself sits within the 31,000 hectares around Deir Istiya which has been zoned as Area C, leaving only the 1,527 hectares of the township in Palestinian controlled Area A. Under the Oslo Accords, Israeli law forbids Palestinians to build structures or plant trees in Area C, while conversely, entitling illegal Israeli settlements to develop and expand. (Al Jazeera has a good explanation of the different areas here.)

Speaking of the situation in Area C, a frustrated resident of Deir Istiya exclaimed, “They have the right to cut the old olive trees but we have no right to grow a new one. See the discriminations?”

Wadi Qana is a strategic area in the region, containing several significant natural springs. These springs and the crops which they irrigate have been under serious threat since 1994 when settlements began running sewage into the valley. While this practice was limited in 2005, many ocurrences have been identified, with four settlements’ waste currently believed to be pumping into the valley below.

While only two of the seventeen natural springs remain unpolluted, water from the underground aquifers is dropping due to the increasing demands of the ongoing settlement expansion. This has caused many farmers to move away from orange and vegetable crops to the more arid-adapted olive trees. The livelihoods of farmers of Wadi Qana are increasingly under threat because of the occupation and its apartheid laws.

Wadi Qana farmland being polluted by settlement sewage

31 July 2010 | ISM and IWPS (International Women’s Peace Service)

Wadi Qana is a valley south west of Nablus where numerous springs supply water to the surrounding Palestinian villages. Approximately 60 people live in the valley itself, and many more own land in the area in which they farm animals and cultivate both citrus and olive trees.

The valley and its springs have been suffering from the effects of raw sewage, which has been leaking into the valley from the illegally built Yaqir settlement since 1994. In 2005, the Israeli Authorities finally built underground sewage pipes after numerous attempts by Palestinians to make them deal with the sewage problems created by Yaqir and other surrounding settlements.

However, the pipes have now broken and so sewage flows out of them and into the nearby springs.

Sewage from Yaqir settlement contaminates a water source
Sewage from Yaqir settlement contaminates arable land and may soon affect water sources

The Mayor of Deir Istiya has notified the Israeli Authorities about the leakage – through the Palestinian District Coordination Liaison Office – several times since the beginning of July. Despite this, Israeli Authorities deny any knowledge of the problem and continue to ignore requests to address the issue.

On July 24th, the Mayor accompanied villagers and volunteers from ISM and IWPS to the site in order to see if the problem had been dealt with.

One volunteer from ISM stated: “As we neared the leakage site, we could smell the sewage. The Israeli Authorities have done nothing to stop the problem so the sewage was still overflowing.” The Mayor added that “There is a high risk of sewage contaminating the potable water source if the leakage is not stopped soon.”

In response to the Israeli Authorities’ inaction to this recurring problem, farmers have been forced to build aqueducts on their (privately owned) land in order to obtain clean water for irrigation. Some of these were built with assistance from the Palestinian Authority. Farmers have also built fences around their land in order to protect their products from wild pigs and other animals, which have been released from the settlements and threaten to destroy the farmers’ crops.

Surveying the damage caused by leakages from sewage pipes which the authorities have failed to address
Surveying the damage caused by leakages from sewage pipes which the authorities have failed to address

Israel’s confiscation of the land was followed by its assertion of Wadi Qana’s status as a nature reserve, with reference to a law created under the British Mandate. No evidence has been presented to Palestinians regarding the existence of this law and the subsequent status of the land. Despite this, on July 21st, the Mayor of Deir Istiya received an official visit from Israeli nature reserve officers. They informed the Mayor once again that the area is classified as a nature reserve, and that it is therefore illegal to build any structures within the area. As a consequence, the aforementioned farmers have been threatened with the demolition of the aqueducts and fences which they now depend upon for their livelihood.

Regardless of the demolition orders’ roots apparently being in Wadi Qana’s status as a nature reserve, Israeli Authorities continue to refuse to take action in order to render such structures unnecessary, or indeed to avoid a potential environmental disaster in the valley.