Jama’in, Kifl Harith, Qira, ‘Urif, Zeta
09:00 We leave from the Rosh Ha’ayin train station. We go through the Shomron crossing where a group of soldiers stood beside a Border Police jeep. We stopped for a while at Ariel because of a traffic jam. We saw two ambulances as we drove by, a police car and a motorcycle lying on the road.
09:30 Kifl Harith. A military vehicle at the entrance, soldiers alongside. A few more soldiers came down from the pillbox. The entire village is silent and deserted – stores are closed and few people in the streets. The same in Qira. A few laborers in Zeta were digging and working in construction.
09:45 Jama’in. The village is surrounded by quarries. Many trucks on the road, most stores are open. We drive through ‘Einabus. A few garages filled with cars to be fixed and for sale.
10:00 ‘Urif. Yesterday the radio reported that settlers from Yitzhar invaded the boys’ school in ‘Urif and injured some pupils. We decided to drive to the school to find out what happened. We parked in the school’s courtyard and met a teaching staff which was very upset! They were excited to see us and happy we’d come to find out what had occurred yesterday.
They invited us to the principal’s office and offered us coffee. The teachers who’d gathered there referred approvingly to the work of the “Machsom women” and said that without them “the occupation would be worse,” and that they know there are also Israelis who think and behave differently from the Yitzhar settlers who’d taken their lands. They added that this county is small and both peoples must learn to live in it peacefully – otherwise there will always be a “balagan.”
The teachers said that yesterday, around ten o’clock, when the pupils were in class, about 20 masked settlers from Yitzhar entered the school. They carried stones, sticks and pistols. They threw stones at the teachers and pupils who ran in panic from the classrooms. We saw a 16-17 year old youth who’d been hit in the nose by a rock – he appeared very sad and frightened. Soldiers arrived shortly afterward. According to the teachers the soldiers used smoke grenades and fired rubber bullets. Twelve pupils were injured and were taken to hospital in Nablus. Four are still hospitalized. The pupils were sent home.
It’s important to note that the school itself appears clean and organized. The doors are made of heavy metal and all the windows protected by thick bars and metal screens. There’s also a wall around a portion of the school.
We saw many rocks on the sidewalk at the entrance to the school as we left, along with grenade canisters, bullet casings and shells from rubber bullets. (cf. examples in the attached photos)
Jamma'in*
See all reports for this place-
Jamma'in*
Jamma'in is a small town, with some of the best quarries in the area. The stone is sold all over Palestine and Israel and even outside the country. The city also has an industrial area. Although they are close to the Ariel and Tapuach settlements, Jama'in farmers have no daily problems with settlers. Harassment occurs mainly during the October harvest season - the settlers sometimes try to drive the farmers out of their plots. Jama'in has its own info-icon water reservoir tower. The water is obtained from sources and paid for by the Palestinian Authority. The city has one clinic that opens only 2-3 days a week. The biggest problem is that there is only one hospital in Nablus in an area of about 10,000 residents. This hospital is too small, does not have enough equipment, and not enough doctors.
Zeita / jama'in is a village of about 3000 inhabitants near Jama'in and Ariel. In the 1980s, land was taken from the village and transferred to settlements. Farmers in the village have lost some of their income. The settlements are located on the ridges, further away from Zeita, which is in the valley. The village does not often suffer from harassment.
The water sources for Zeita and Jama'in that have supplied water to the villages for centuries have been confiscated by the Mekorot company and the water is flowed to Ariel. Without a reasonable info-icon water supply the villages cannot develop agriculture or any industry.
The electricity comes from the Israeli Electric Company through Ariel and Jama'in.
The IDF oversees the main roads and entrances to the villages. -
Jama'in is a small town, with some of the best quarries in the area. The stone is sold all over Palestine and Israel and even outside the country. The city also has an industrial area. Although they are close to the Ariel and Tapuach settlements, Jama'in farmers have no daily problems with settlers. Harassment occurs mainly during the October harvest season - the settlers sometimes try to drive the farmers out of their plots. Jama'in has its own info-icon water reservoir tower. The water is obtained from sources and paid for by the Palestinian Authority. The city has one clinic that opens only 2-3 days a week. The biggest problem is that there is only one hospital in Nablus in an area of about 10,000 residents. This hospital is too small, does not have enough equipment, and not enough doctors. Zeita is a village of about 3000 inhabitants near Jama'in and Ariel. In the 1980s, land was taken from the village and transferred to settlements. Farmers in the village have lost some of their income. The settlements are located on the ridges, further away from Zeita, which is in the valley. The village does not often suffer from harassment. The water sources for Zeita and Jama'in that have supplied water to the villages for centuries have been confiscated by the Mekorot company and the water is flowed to Ariel. Without a reasonable info-icon water supply the villages cannot develop agriculture or any industry. The electricity comes from the Israeli Electric Company through Ariel and Jama'in. The IDF oversees the main roads and entrances to the villages.
-
Kifl Harith
See all reports for this place-
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.
-
Qira
See all reports for this place-
Qira
This village is located in the Salfit district of the northern West Bank, 19 kilometers south-west of Nablus. The village population numbered 1,387 as of 2016. 97.6% of the village lands are categorized as Area B, whereas the 2.3% remaining are in Area C. The Separation Fence erected around the settler-colony city of Ariel separates Qira from its local town Salfit, and necessitates a detour of about 20 kilometers.
In 2010-2015, the women’s center in the village held meetings and workshops shared by the village women and children with members of MachsomWatch.
For further information: http://vprofile.arij.org/salfit/pdfs/vprofile/Qira_vp_en.pdf
-
Zeta South (564)
See all reports for this place-
Zeta South (564) Agricultural checkpoint. Allows passage to farmers whose lands have been imprisoned beyond the Separation Barrier. The crossing is allowed for special permit holders, for three days a week: noon and afternoon for 15 minutes at a time. The Palestinians who need to pass are complaining about the short times and the few days they can work on their land.
-