Occupation enforces the isolation of Khirbet Yazra
Latest News, Palestinian Grassroots Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign, September 3rd, 2008
Occupation forces prevented the creation of road that would link the village of Khirbet Yazra to Tubas. Soldiers confiscated the identification cards of Palestinians involved with the project.
Kherbet Yazra is a village east of Tubas that is populated by 13 families. Residents of the village live in simple homes constructed of mud bricks. There are no health facilities or schools and the village is not connected to the national water or electricity networks. Villagers have to use a rugged nine-kilometer dirt route in order to get to the nearest service centers in the city of Tubas, which they access either on foot, animals, or by tractors.
On 2 September, Occupation forces stopped the digging of an agricultural road between Khirbet Yazraand and confiscated the identification cards of Mukhlis Masa’eed, the project coordinator of Yazra and Ahmad Kameel, the driver of the bulldozer that was opening the road. The creation of a new road to Tubas is necessary for the villagers, especially for the 12 elementary school children who go to school in Tubas. Given the current road system, getting to school is incredibly difficult.
Masa’eed stated that he had submitted a request to the Ministry of Finance to finance the dirt road due to the difficulties that the villagers face upon entering and exiting the village. Although he knew that the Occupation would not allow the road to be paved, he was surprised when soldiers barred the construction of a simple agricultural road.
The villagers of Yazra depend on agriculture and livestock as their main sources of livelihood. They are severely affected by water shortages and are forced to purchase outside water. This is incredibly expensive given the lack of access to the village.
Yazra is also surrounded by Occupation military training camps that regularly endanger the lives of the inhabitants. Masa’eed claims that both his father and mother have been wounded by rubber bullets while inside their home and that his brother was killed by a rubber bullet that was shot by Occupation forces during their training. Many of the villagers of Yazra have been injured in incidents related to military drills. Soldiers often conduct raids on the village, and villagers report that crops have been burned, especially during the summer.
Yazra, like al-Hadidiyya or al-Jiftlik, is one of the many small Palestinian communities threatened by Occupation attempts to further gain control over the Jordan Valley.
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| Above: Across the Jordan Valley, Occupation forces bar Palestinians from constructing proper roads |
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