Aqraba case study - Israeli state stealing Palestinian land

[Tony Gosling]

Aqraba case study - Israeli state stealing Palestinian land

West Bank villagers pushed away from their valley
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10398.shtml (click for images)
Dr. Marcy Newman, The Electronic Intifada, 17 March 2009

The village of Aqraba.

The West Bank village of Aqraba sits nested in the Jordan Valley, 
approximately 20 kilometers southeast of Nablus and around 50 
kilometers east of Israel's wall that separates Palestinians in what 
is now considered Israel from those who reside in the West Bank. It 
is close enough to the Jordanian border that Palestinian cell phones 
roam here as if one were in Jordan.

There are 9,000 persons who live in this village, most of whom live 
on the top of the mountain, but these families have not always 
resided there. In 1968, shortly after Israel occupied the West Bank 
and Gaza Strip, when 400,000 Palestinians became refugees, many for 
the second time, hundreds of Palestinians from Aqraba fled to Jordan. 
Villagers fled upon hearing accounts of massacres in nearby villages, 
as happened in 1947-48, during which at least 700,000 Palestinians 
were forced from their homeland in a period referred to as the Nakba, 
or catastrophe. Historically the families of this village farmed and 
worked as shepherds, using the land stretching all the way to the 
Jordan River. But since 1967, Israeli occupation forces have 
continuously pushed families up towards the valley, a good 20 to 30 
kilometers away from lands that used to belong to them. At first this 
forced removal was because the land was confiscated for a military 
training area. Then in 1973, part of that land was converted into the 
colony of Gitit on the mountain above Aqraba's valley.

 From the beginning the Israeli military and illegal settlers alike 
used force to make room for more colonies in the area. Abu al-Aez 
recalled his family's flight in 1974 from the valley to the center of 
Aqraba on the mountain after the occupying Israeli army launched a 
rocket that hit their home: "Thirty dunums of land were stolen from 
us and now the settlers plant grapes there."

According to official reports, last week the Israeli army issued 
orders to demolish six homes, their adjoining barns, one elementary 
school, and a mosque in the valley of Aqraba. However, families there 
say they suspect that up to 20 houses will be destroyed. On 26 March 
they are scheduled to have a hearing in an Israeli colonial court in 
Beit El, a settlement close to al-Bireh, to challenge this decision.

The roads leading down into the valley where the buildings slated for 
demolition lie are in Area C, while the part of the village on the 
mountain remains in Area B. Under the Oslo Accords the West Bank was 
divided into Areas A, B and C, referring to urban areas, built-up 
villages and rural areas respectively. Under this agreement the 
Palestinian Authority technically controls civilian life, including 
security; in contradistinction Area C is entirely controlled by 
Israeli occupation forces. One can tell the difference as one drives 
into the valley and the road changes from the paved road to a dirt 
road (though much of the paved road, like the electricity, was only 
installed two years ago). The Palestinian Authority exercises limited 
autonomy in Area B, while Area C -- comprising 59 percent of the West 
Bank -- is subjected to Israeli military administration. On one of 
the main dirt roads running through the agricultural land at the 
bottom of the valley -- a road that was created by the occupying 
Israeli army -- there are stones that have recently been marked with 
red spray paint. Villagers believe this indicates that their homes 
will be demolished in order to create a Jewish-only road connecting 
the surrounding, illegal Israeli colonies of Gitit, Itamar, Yitzhar and Hamra.

Like many villages in the West Bank surrounded by illegal Israeli 
colonies, the areas of Aqraba are invaded by Israeli forces daily and 
Israeli settlers regularly. Between 1975 and 1982 shepherds were 
regularly arrested by the Israeli army. Their sheep were confiscated 
while the shepherds were in prison and they were forced to pay 10 
Jordanian dinars per sheep to get them back upon their release. Since 
the second Palestinian intifada broke out in September 2000, at least 
one shepherd per year has been murdered by Israeli settlers. Most 
famously, in September 2008, Yahia Ateya Fahmi Bani Maneya, an 
18-year-old shepherd, was murdered by settlers. These daily threats 
since 1967 have meant that numerous families who own land in the 
valley for grazing their animals and growing food -- fava beans, 
lentils and wheat -- have sold their livestock and moved to the part 
of Aqraba at the top of the mountain. Those who have moved, but who 
have tried to continue to tend to their land, have been prevented 
from doing so by the Israeli army.

Driving into the valley, one notices that there are still shepherds 
out with their sheep grazing the land. The village itself is 250 
years old, although all of the original homes are more than a hundred 
years old. As families have expanded they added onto the original 
structures, which they still use. The history of these families on 
the land can be traced as these homes are built next to the caves 
that their families inhabited with their sheep generations ago, prior 
to building homes. The elementary school and the mosque are newer, 
but these buildings, like the homes, are all slated for destruction 
in this latest episode of ethnic cleansing, which will affect the 200 
people residing in this valley for generations. These are the 
remaining families who have not fled to Jordan nor to the center of Aqraba.

Two young girls, Lubna and Maram, of the Anas family.

Every family in Aqraba has a similar story to tell: of relatives 
fleeing in 1967 to Jordan, of relatives fleeing to Aqraba's center 
and leaving their agrarian way of life, of the looming dispossession. 
Like many of the families from Aqraba, Fatima and Maher Anas trace 
their families back for generations and their migration from cave to 
home, part of which was built more than 200 years ago. Like many 
other families, much of their livelihood has been destroyed by 
Israeli army bulldozers that destroyed all of their wheat last year. 
Many of their relatives fled to Zarqa refugee camp in Jordan, joining 
the fate of other Aqraba families.

Reflecting on what will happen if the remaining part of her family is 
turned into internally displaced refugees, Fatima explained, "If they 
destroy our houses they will destroy our crops and our ability to 
make food. If we cannot plant food any longer, what will happen to 
our livelihood?"

Fatima's brother, Yusef, has already faced this fate. Across the way 
from the mosque scheduled to be demolished is the foundation is Yusef 
Nasrallah's home. He started building it last year only to be ordered 
to stop by the Israeli army. Like many before him, Yusef sold his 
sheep and moved to Aqraba's center where he has been unable to find work.

To be sure, this latest phase in the ethnic cleansing of Aqraba is 
not unique to the West Bank nor to the part of historic Palestine 
that is now considered Israel. This week saw the destruction of two 
Palestinian homes and 100 olive trees in the Negev town of Beer Seba, 
now given the Hebraized name of Beersheva. In the West Bank, from 
Qalqiliya to Hebron to East Jerusalem, families await the status of 
the orders for their homes to be demolished. But while there is a 
great deal of attention paid to the impending destruction of 
Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem, there is little if any media 
attention or support for families in small villages like Aqraba. In 
the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan, Palestinians flock to the 
demonstration tent set up to show solidarity, but there has been no 
such solidarity presence in Aqraba. Israel's colonial divide-and-rule 
policy continues to fragment the people in ways that separate them 
physically by its system of checkpoints and permits. But this is not 
about the occupation of the West Bank. Indeed, these same methods 
were used to confiscate large land tracts during the 1948 
catastrophe. It is an ongoing Nakba that requires learning the 
lessons of history by not submitting to the divisions imposed by the 
colonial regime.

All images by Dr. Marcy Newman.

Dr. Marcy Newman is Associate Professor of English at An Najah 
National University in Nablus, Palestine. Her writing may be found at 
bodyontheline.wordpress.com.
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