Friday, Feb 13, 2004
A number of Palestinian villagers, cut off from the rest of the West Bank by Israel's separation barrier, this week received the latest notifications that the army intends to demolish their homes.
The meandering route of the controversial barrier has left them on the "wrong" side of a completed 150km northern section in what the Israeli authorities designated closed military zones last October.
The Israeli military has in the past few weeks issued 10 demolition orders for homes in two of the stranded villages, Arab Ramadin and Wadi Rasha near Qalqilya.
That is almost 20 per cent of the dwellings there.
Inhabitants of the stranded villages have West Bank identity cards. But villagers complain that barrier gates manned by the Israeli army are rarely opened to allow them passage into the rest of the West Bank, and yet they are also technically barred from entering Israel.
Palestinian groups estimate that so far, 6,800 people have had to apply for permits to continue living in their homes and 6,700 more could be forced to do the same.
The permits have been issued for three, six and 12 month periods. A further 73,000 Palestinians in the West Bank have been cut off from their land by the first stage of the barrier. The Palestinians view with trepidation the arrival of the demolition orders, fearing they are part of steady and deliberateefforts to push them off their land.
While there is an international outcry about the route of the parts of the barrier yet to be built, these villagers fear it has come too late to save them.
"We're not stupid, and it's obvious the plan is to try and force us to leave," said Kassab Al-Shu'ur, an unemployed contractor in the village of Arab Ramadin, who has received a demolition order.
An Israeli official said the permits system - along with the entire barrier project - was to ensure security and prevent terrorism.
In this area, the completed barrier cuts deep into the West Bank, taking in the Jewish settlement of Alfe Menashe along with five Palestinian villages including Arab Ramadin, home to 1,250 Palestinians. The Israeli military has in the past few weeks issued a total of 10 demolition orders for homes in Arab Ramadin and Wadi Rasha, almost 20 per cent of the dwellings in these two villages.
Israel says it is illegal to build without permission and many of the mainly Bedouin shepherds in these villages live in ramshackle, corrugated iron structures. But the villagers say there has been an increase in demolition orders since the area became a closed military zone and they deny there is a security rationale. An army patrol usually passes through the villages once a day.
"Every year, a kid or two will die from the cold. These shacks are cold in the winter and hot in the summer and my two-year-old niece died four months ago," said Mr Shu'ur.
"The Israelis steal land and build villas," he added, pointing to the gleaming houses in Alfe Menashe barely a kilometre away.
But Mr Shu'ur refuses to leave and says he will live in a tent if his appeal is refused and his home demolished.
On the West Bank side of the barrier, north of these villages, is the Palestinian town of Jayous. Many Jayous farmers own land nearby that is now cut off on the Israeli side. Sharif Omar Khaled has been refused a permit to reach his 1,362 dunums (450 acres) of land, which he has not seen since last November.
After successfully fighting an Israeli land confiscation order in the early 1990s, he thinks he will never get a permit to tend his land and fears Israel will eventually annex it.
"Israel knows me well and I don't expect they will issue me with a permit. They say it is because of security, but I am 60 and am not a risk," he said.
Such cases have prompted Israeli rights groups to mount legal action, leading to ahearing in Israel's Supreme Court into the legality of the barrier, which started this week. Later this month, the World Court in The Hague also will begin deliberations, although its ruling will not be binding.
At a time when Palestinian officials argue that Israeli expansion in the West Bank is putting the viability of their future state at risk, they claim the northern barrier amounts to the de facto annexation of some of the territory's richest agricultural and water resources. Many of the Jewish settlements that the barrier plans to take in further south were located with strategic control over such resources in mind.
Ariel Sharon, prime minister, has spoken of the need to take humanitarian considerations into account and may make small changes to the route of the barrier, which could stretch as far as 728km. However, a defence ministry spokeswoman said there were no plans to change the route of the completed northern section.
By SHARMILA DEVI
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