This morning, occupation forces demolished an artesian well in Abu Daâif village, east of Jenin.
A bulldozer arrived at the village at around 7.00 am accompanied by military jeeps and a unit of Occupation forces, who put the village under an immediate military closure order while the bulldozer set to work tearing up the structure of the well. The villagers were helpless as the bulldozer finished the work by filling it in with earth.
The well belonged to local farmer Fayaad Assad Majid. He built it a year and a half ago as an investment to supplement his agriculture. It provided water for 50 dunums of land belonging to Abu Daâif and neighbouring village, which was planted with vegetables and supported around ten greenhouses.
Water is scarce in the West Bank, particularly during the summer months. Abu Daâif and the other villages east of Jenin suffer serious water shortages and farmers without wells are forced to buy water at great expense to get even the minimum requirements for the crops that they depend on for a living.
The destruction of the well is the latest disaster for Abu Daiâf as the occupation continues its assault of Palestinian farmers. Seventy dunums of village land planted with olive trees are isolated behind the Apartheid Wall. The destruction of the well will compound the farmersâ hardship.