On March 28th, Occupation forces attacked a group of farmers while they were working in their lands, and forced them at gunpoint to leave their lands after destroying the food and other agricultural equipment the farmers had with them. Similarly, On April 4th Occupation soldiers forced another two families who were in their lands east the Wall to leave their lands claiming that the fields were too close to the Wall, and in the future the Palestinian owners would not be allowed to use them for any reason.
Moreover, the Occupation administration officer informed the Palestinian DCO in Qalqiliya that the Occupation forces are planning to close the current gates in the villages of Jayyus and Falamya and replace them with a single gate to the north of Jayyus. The Occupation officer claimed that this new gate will be open 24 hours a day, and that they will also open a gate in Azzun where there are currently no gates right now. The people in Jayyus reject these ideas as another way the Occupation forces are trying to bar them from their lands. Villagers say that this new gate is far from the village and they will not be able to reach their lands through it. In addition they suggest that the Occupation administration is lying about the gate being open 24 hours, as the permits they hold allow them to stay in their isolated lands for only a few hours during the day.
Abu Amar’s isolated Home:
Occupation forces continue their threats to expel Abu Amarâs family from their isolated home behind the Wall. Every few days Occupation forces enter the house and inform the family that they should leave immediately and that they âOccupation forces- are going to close the gate permanently. By the beginning of this month the Occupation forces had placed another gate in front of the first one and surrounded it by barbed wire making movement even harder for the family. After two days the Occupation administration officer told Abu Amar that his family should leave their house as the gate would shortly be closed permanently. He suggested that they could go live in Jayyus, either that or the Occupation will move them to Arab Ramadin Shamali ânorth east Qalqiliya, offering to purchase them a new caravan and get them the required permits that would allow them to pass through the different gates.
The effort being made to force Abu Amar’s family from their home highlights the extent that Occupation forces are willing to go to evacuate Palestinians from their lands, allowing them to completely annexed to Israel.
At the end of March Occupation forces closed the northern gates in Qalqilya, at the same time claiming they would re-open another gate which had been closed for more than a year. However, this “re-opened” gate has since been open only sporadically, and remains closed unless farmers go and wait to pass through it.