2023-11-15 13:53:49
“If the occupation did not exist, there would be a beautiful palestinian city“fantasizes the activist Ayman Griab. But, instead of streets, buildings and fountains, there is a barren land on which houses made of sticks and plastic sheets are erected. The Palestinian communities of Jordan Valley, formerly custodians of a fertile and impressive landscape, are now condemned to live in a flimsy prison. Threatened by the growing violence of the radical settlers that surround them in settlements and illegal outposts, no longer leave their lands. Their flocks graze among their tents and those bedouin Born on this once green soil now return home empty-handed of food. The scars on the face of Griab, a native of the Palestinian biblical village of Tubas, trace the path of centuries-old resistance. His skin, the same color as the ground, is twinned with the earth.
In these Bedouin communities spread throughout the Jordan Valley, you can breathe fear. Since the war began on October 7, their disputed lands have become a new scene of battles in the State of Israel. The settlers have armas and the shelter for soldiers and police. The Palestinians have their bodies, their voices. Although not all. Many have been seen forced to abandon their lands. Months, years of harassment, threats and humiliation by radical settlers have forced them to leave. Charred wood, empty cribs and clothes still hanging are the only evidence left of decades of presence in those lands, where entire generations They have grazed their flocks. On both sides of a pristine road built for the occupying population, lie stripped ruins with the smell of urine.
100,000 Palestinians among 10,000 settlers
For weeks the already complex life of the Bedouin Alia Looks has hardened. “We can no longer cross to the other side of the road, where we used to go to graze,” says this 29-year-old girl from the village of Marchsouth of the Jordan Valley, where some 300 personas which make up 30 families. “Lately, the settlers have begun to invade the neighborhood at night and they have also tried to take some of our animals,” he explains to this newspaper, on the banks of that road that they no longer dare to cross. “Over the last few weeks, we have afraid of sleeping freely, because we don’t know who can enter our houses at night,” she confesses, returning to episodes that have already marked her. “Since the war started, there are more and more people who are considering the possibility of leave their homes if things get worse,” says this descendant of refugees from the Negev of 1948.
After the Six Day War in 1967 and the subsequent military occupation of the West Bank, the Jordan Valley was considered a physical barrier to prevent neighboring countries from reaching Tel Aviv. The first settlements were established by the Labor Party and there were some calm between employed and occupants. But in 2016, new colonies were built in which some of the most radical settlers live. Since then, there has been no peace in the 160,000 hectares that make up the Jordan Valley and the north of the Dead Sea and that represent a 30% of the total occupied West Bank. Some 100,000 Palestinians from the valley are forced to resist the 10,000 settlers who, with the help of the State and its creation of fenced nature reserves, are taking away land that is theirs.
30 years of Oslo
“This is not a problem that started on October 7,” he denounces Aref Daraghmehfield researcher in the area for the Israeli organization B’Tselem. “The entire Jordan Valley is closed around the Palestinians and the population cannot access their Job positions“, he explains to EL PERIÓDICO. In the Oslo Accordswhich celebrates three decades this year, almost 90% of this region was designated as Area Cthe West Bank territory that remains under full Israeli control. The remaining 10% of the region is home to Palestinian communities, designated Area A or B, but, being surrounded by Area C lands, the communities are isolated from each other. “The Palestinian Authority cannot help us; they went to Oslo without knowing anything on these lands,” laments this activist.
Ali Abu Mahzi It is as old as the land it defends. In Arabic with a strong rural accent, he recounts decades of resistance in Al Farsiyya, north of the valley, which have accelerated in recent weeks. “They destroy and I build, they destroy and I build“repeats this old man, while showing an image of him clinging to the ground in front of a bulldozer. “The settlers throw stones at my sheep when we are grazing, because They want to expel us from our land and place an outpost, but we have centenary papers that confirm that this land belongs to us,” he explains to this newspaper in a speech inflamed by injustice. At his side, the new generations embodied in Ayman Griab, 40, continue their fight. “These last few days, the palestinian youth is experiencing the punishment imposed by the settlers, the Army and the police,” says this activist from Tubas.
Insulated and dry
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There are already large plains of land completely empty. Fields that, a few years ago, were overflowing with green are now completely dry. The constant humiliation and the latent threat of violence have kept Palestinians and their flocks from these lands. Some communities, isolated between illegal settlements, have lost contact with the outside world due to the increase in checkpoints on their precarious roads and the road blockades imposed by the settlers. Large expanses of brown are declared shooting areas or under military control, alerting herders of the possibility of receiving a bullet while grazing. Mlihat recalls one of the most repeated threats: “We will do with you what we are doing in Gaza“.
“Your end will be the same as that of the inhabitants of the Strip,” recalls this young woman who has been unemployed for four years. The faces that have burst into her house in recent weeks were already familiar to her. acquaintances. “Since the war started, the settlers have started to receive more weapons and uniforms, so now the soldiers are members of these settlements“, he says. For many of these Palestinian families, only the remains of a community life remain. Since the war began, there are more and more of them. In this barren land, ancient communities, twinned with the land, subsist thanks to tenacious resistance. Ayman Griab is one with the soil. “Hopefully the next time you come I can welcome you In the same place but with a beautiful Palestinian city,” he concludes, among shops and sheep.
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