Activity with women in Kufr al Dik, Tue 6.8.13, Morning
We went in order to plan together with Hala – the coordinator of the women's club and member of the village council – a trip to Tel Aviv Jaffa for a group of men and women cancer patients. The trip was set for the first half of September.
It was also important for Rahel to clarify the last details of the trip of children and mothers from the village, for a regular sea-day in August. In the course of our conversation with Hala it transpired that the building which had, until now, been owned by village council, will pass on to the Palestinian Police. Another building not far away will be prepared for the use of the village institutions, including a space for the women's activities. That was the reason which the activities we planned a few months ago with students and youngsters from the village was again postponed, probably for September.
We also met Hassan, with whom Dalia is in constant contact regarding water and other problems, and we also visited the other women's club, that of Hanaan, in order to clarify details regarding the continuation of our activity there.
Hanan proudly showed us sewing work that the women had produced in the last weeks under the supervision of a seamstress from Nablus, and asked to renew the activity of Suzy and Ruthi at the club.
When we prepared to leave the village we had an inkling of the presence of the Palestinian Police there. Two polite and bored policemen stopped us and explained to us that we endanger ourselves because we are in the limits of the Palestinian Authority. They expressed concern for our wellbeing and contacted by phone somebody who should probably have instructed them how to deal with us. A few minutes later, when we repeatedly explained to them that we knew the village and visited it frequently, and especially that we were in a hurry and were expected at home in Tel Aviv, they enabled us to continue on our way.
The way back, at the foot of the spreading settlement Baruchin and the expanding industrial zone there too, is absolutely depressing. It is so clear that nobody stops this mad building spree on the whole ridge.
Kufr a-Dik
See all reports for this place-
Kufr a-Dik This is a Palestinian village in the Salfit district of the West Bank, located 8 kilometers east of the Green Line. The village population numbers 4,494 (as of 2007). 14.5% of the village were included in Area B (supposedly under Palestinian civil control) and 86% categorized as Area C – meaning both civil and military Israeli control, which severely affects the state of the village and its inhabitants. Over the years Israel has robbed 1,448 dunams from the village’s farmlands for the sake of building the settler-colonies of Penuel, Alei Zahav, Yoezer, Har Alei Zahav, and the industrial zone next to Penuel. Lands were also sequestered for the paving of Road 446 whose length stretches over 4 kilometers and includes a buffer zone 75-meters wide on both its sides. Following the paving of the road, the village has suffered not only landgrab but home demolitions and the destruction of water wells as well. Rates of unemployment in both the private and the public sectors reach 60%. In the years 2010-2013 creative activity was held by members of MachsomWatch and women of the village. For further information: http://vprofile.arij.org/salfit/pdfs/vprofile/Kafr%20ad%20Dik_tp_en.pdf
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