Corona Times Report: Kufr Thulth - everyone is staying home
This morning I telephoned M., our friend from Kufr Thulth.
It’s a small, very old village in Area B, but it’s lands are in Area C. It’s located south of ‘Azzun, on the way to Siniriyya. The Ma’aleh Shomron settlement was built on its lands.
When the separation fence was erected the village lands were cut off from the villagers who owned them, and since access is through a checkpoint – a seasonal agricultural gate – there isn’t any way to assist them during the olive harvest.
M. and his wife have an olive grove and they must harvest the fruit by themselves, and are unable to receive help from organizations or individuals.
In this time of corona, everyone is staying home. The grocery opens daily for a few hours. There are no shortages as of now. He has enough food for his sheep for about two more weeks. The Palestinian Authority established barriers at the entrance to the village; the quarantine is adhered to.
Kufr Thulth
See all reports for this place-
Kufr Thulth is located in the western part of the West Bank, in the Qalqiliya district. According to archeological evidence, this village was inhabited as early as the Early Bronze Age. Findings have been dated there to Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine times. The village is situated on road 446, south of the Palestinian town of Azoun and north of Qanah River. It numbers 5,606 inhabitants as of 2017.
After the signing of the Oslo Accords, the built-up southern part of the village was categorized as Area B, comprising about 11% of its area, but nearly all of its farmland is classified as Area C.
Israel has confiscated 367 dunams of the village lands, and the area of neighboring village Arab Al Hula, in order to construct the settler-colonies of Karnei Shomron, Ginot Shomron, Ma’ale Shomron, and Immanuel, as well as the Separation Fence (splitting the village itself), and prevented villagers to access their farmlands lying near the settler-colonies. The authorities declared the area a nature reserve, and thus prevented access or any tending that would change the nature of the local land.
The Israeli army and the settler-colonists continue to harass the Palestinian farmers who visit their own lands, attack their herds and destroy trees and any other kind of farm crop, uproot trees and pollute water sources with sewage or toxic waste in order to make the Palestinians leave.
For further information: http://vprofile.arij.org/qalqiliya/pdfs/vprofile/kufrthulth_vp_en.pdf
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