Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign: Farmers, shepherds and shopkeepers face the destruction of their livelihoods

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Farmers, shepherds and shopkeepers face the destruction of their livelihoods
Latest News, Palestinian Grassroots Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign, August 13th, 2006

The Zionist project to force Palestinians to leave their cities, villages and homes in order to make space for further colonization of the West Bank is continuing unabated. Livelihoods of petty merchants, farmers and shepherds are systematically destroyed leaving hardly any chances for survival behind the ghetto walls.

In the old city of Hebron, the Occupation forces orders shop owners in 21 different roads to close their shops. Most of the shops are located in the area around the Abraham mosque, in the central square of the old city. This area has already been almost ethnically cleansed of its Palestinian residents as a result of the continuous harassment and threats of the Zionist forces and settlers. Keeping shops open in this area has become an act of resistance as continuous curfews and the risk clients have to take to come to the shops render almost any commercial activity unprofitable.

West of the city, in Beit Ula, the Occupation Forces continue to bar farmers from accessing and harvesting their land behind the Wall. This closure comes at time when most of the crops are ready for harvesting. The crops are now rotting on the land while the farmers lose the entire income of their work and their investments. “This is just another step to steal our land and to isolate it from our reach,” points out one of the effected farmers.

Above: The Ghetto of Jaba village. For full map, Press Here

The Occupation Forces have further confiscated the ID cards from the farmers that have attempted to reach their lands and forced them to go to the military base in Jaba’a, in south Bethlehem, to get their ID cards back.

In the Qalqiliya district new confiscation orders are still being handed out. The Occupation forces announced the theft of 8 dunums from Hajja, east of Qalqiliya, in order to construct another military base. The base will rise west of the village on lands belonging to families from Hajja and Kufr Laqif. It is located north of the settlers’ road which connects Karne Shamron and Ma’aleh Shamron settlement bloc.

In the Jordan Valley, the Occupation Forces pester the shepherds in Sahel Libqe’a and bar them from entering their land. In the last week, soldiers have repeatedly attacked the shepherds in Sahel Libqe’a , east Tamoun, beat them, confiscated their ID cards and expelled them from their lands.

The mechanisms implemented to destroy Palestinian livelihoods are diverse and uncountable. The Occupation is relentlessly encroaching on every aspect of Palestinian economy and life.