Activity in Hares and a tour at Kif El Hares, Kira, Zeita, Jama’in, Dir’Istia
Activity in Hares and a tour at Kif El Hares, Kira, Zeita, Jama'in, Dir'Istia
We left at 09:00 from the Rosh Ha'Ayin train station. This time we didn't drive through Huwwara (at former times there was no activity at the CP) but through Kif El Hares. At the entrance to the village there was a manned position. Beyond it a signpost of the Ministry for Religious Affairs point to the tombe of "Kalev Ben Yefune" (or what is more probable an ancient tomb of a sheikh) which is situated in the very heart of a Moslem cemetery. The tomb is clean and well kept. The site around it, in which Moslem tombs are scattered, is neglected.
At the village we reached the shop of the person who was supposed to help us organizing a class for study, but the shop was closed. A pity.
From there to the village of Kira. In its midst there is a narrow road paved by an international authority and which connected the village to Zeita, Jama'in and Huwwara, as a substitute for the road which has been closed for the village inhabitants.
From Kira to Zeita and through Jama'in to Hares. What strikes one in these villages is the amount of shut shops as well as construction beginnings, where the owners haven't got the means to complete them. There are very few people in the alleys of the villages.
At 10:30 we reached Hares. About 12 women waited for us. The veteran ones continues to study English with me and the others, whose English is very weak, worked with Dorit.
At 12:30 We left the village in the direction of the main road. At the exit there were three soldiers with a signpost: "Stop". Two introduced themselves as "commanders", stopped us and refused to let us pass, although our car had Israeli tags and we had identity cars.
We turned around to the village. It transpired that at the exit from Kif El Hares there is another CP. Nadim navigated to a third road which leads to Dir'Isrtia. At the exit – another CP. This time they let us pass.
At the Samaria CP there was an assertive soldier. He began investigating Nadim (as I answered the questions for him, he became suspicious). After all the IDs were checked he sent us on our way with a nasty remark to Nadim: "You are an Israeli or you just live in Israel?"
There is a great change in the army presence and tension in the area compared to the preceding weeks.
Haris
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Haris
The village has 4,500 people and they have 5,000 dunams of land. The entrance to the village is blocked and opened arbitrarily, without informing the residents.The village has a seasonal checkpoint that blocks the road to the agricultural land and this checkpoint opens once a year! 2,500-3,000 dunams were stolen from the village in order to build the settlements of Revava and Netafim, which are located west of Haris.
The center of the village is Area B and around Area C. The population grows but the occupation does not permit new construction in Area C.
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Kifl Harith
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Kifl Harith
This is a Palestinian located north-west of the settler-colony town of Ariel, 18 kilometers south of the city of Nablus. It numbers 3, 206 inhabitants, as of 2007. 42% of the village lands lie in Area B, and 58% in Area C. In 1978, some hundreds of dunams of the village’s farmland was sequestered in order to found the settler-colony of Ariel – in total 5,184 dunams from the Palestinian communities of Salfit, Iscaqa, Marda, and Kifl Harith. Dozens of square kilometers were also confiscated for paving road no. 5 as well as road 505 and their buffer zones, and the Israeli electricity company’s power station. Over the years the village has suffered harassment by sometimes-armed settler-colonists, even casualties. In 1968 the army’s rabbinate ruled the maqam site Nabi Yanoun (sanctified grave of the Prophet Yanoun) is in fact the tomb of Joshua, Son of Nun. Another structure in the village, named Nabi Tul Kifl by the Palestinians, has been identified by the Israeli authorities as to the tomb of Caleb, Son of Yefuneh. These sites are located in the heart of the village, near the mosque, and at times of Jewish religious festivities and pilgrimages, the center of the village is illuminated by projectors and thousands of Jews arrive, protected by hundreds of Israeli soldiers. During such a period, a night curfew is imposed on the village and the villagers are forced to stay shut inside their homes.
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