Jordan Valley: Life is so harsh for the Palesinians
The eye hospital in Turmus Ayya
Due to the worsening condition of the of Miriam from Fasa’il’s eyes, and the danger that she will go blind again, she must receive an injection in one eye this week and in the other eye next week. Then again next month, and so on, week afrer week including the month of April. We drove to take her to the hospital for treatment and on the way we saw several locked villages and cities. The IDF locked them with their men, their elders and their young, and they cannot travel by car and get to work, school, the doctor or medical treatment.
These are the locked villages we saw on our way to the hospital: Marda (below the Ariel settlement) and on the opposite side Zeita/Jamma’in, Yatma/Kablan, Akraba, Qusra and Singil.
In Akraba we saw a young woman, carrying a baby in one hand and a large bag in the other, crossing the locked entrance and the village a long way from the gate. No car was awaiting her on the other side of the gates.
In Singil we stopped to take photos of the gates, a woman from the house next door waved at us and signaled for us to wait, as she wanted to talk to us. She said that the gate has been locked for over a year (!) and that the gate blocks her house from the village, so she has to walk a long way to everything. She said that settlers often come to her house, attack them and destroy the vegetable garden in front of the house.
The gates in Kusra and Marada have also been locked since October 7, 2023. I also received a call from a friend from the Bekaa, who said that the Tayasir checkpoint has been completely closed for two weeks.
Not only have the Palestinians forbidden to work in Israel since the October war broke out, they also cannot go to school, to the doctor, to any work, because many villages are blocked off. And all this for no wrongdoing! If the motive is security – let me inform you that the economic distress, the humiliation and rage that create these closures are the producers of terrorism, and whoever breaks down and decides to do something, will easily find the way to harm.
We took Miriam from her home to the Torumus Ayya hospital. As expected, thousands of people filled the reception hall. The name is written on a note and the receptionist calls the patient when his turn comes. We waited for more than two hours until the receptionist received us, directed us to pay (NIS 50) and sent us to a nurse who would inject Miriam’s eye. Hedva befriended a guy from Tulkarm, who said that he had a work permit in Israel but he has not been working since 10/7 and is in great distress. He begged her to get him a job.
On the way back we bought medicine for Miriam and stopped to buy vegetables for her family. She asked that we not buy, but give her the money – her son, who is also severely diabetic, has an inflamed wound on his leg and is at risk of amputation. She wants the money to pay the doctor. She doesn’t even have a doctor!! We gave her money for the doctor and also bought vegetables. The seller, who the first time we bought wanted to kick me out of the store because I am an Israeli Jew, today insists on giving me some of the things for free.
Next week will be shorter, because I have arranged for us not have to go through the receptionist so she will go directly for her injection. Also, Miriam’s husband will join and I have arranged with a local driver to bring them home if there is a long line. I would be happy if someone would join me next Monday and we could also visit the other shepherd communities.
Towards the shift’s end, we met with Jamal, whose duty if to maintain the healthy condition of the water pipe which supplies water to Fasa’il’s residents once every 4 days. Not only did the Settlers run him over while he rode his bicycles to check the pipe (and since that event I and the “looking Occupation in the eye” activists take him to check the pipe), but also last time we did that a pickup truck, probably belonging to the County seat, arrived, photographed Jamal, and threatened him to not dare come to this spot. To be clear: The whole nature reserve in which the pipe crosses is privately owned by a Fasa’il resident, it is legal and no one has the authority to chase anyone from the reserve or threaten them. But the man is afraid, and asks me and the other activists to travel ourselves and check on the pipe. We did this in the last two weeks, but his maintenance demands that he also enter the water, and go in places we are not interested in going into, so he will have to come into that space again soon. We will try to protect him with our presence, but not do his work for him.
Location Description
Fasa'il
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An old community of shepherds in the Jordan Valley that is located between settlements and is exposed to the demolition of its residential buildings at times by the army and the abuses of the settlers. King Herod founded the city of Fatza'elis in 8 BC, and named it after his older brother, Petzal. The permanent settlement in the place began with Bedouins who migrated to the area as early as the 1950s after being expelled from the Tel Arad area. Over the years, additional Bedouin residents who were expelled from other places in the Jordan Valley joined. Areas that were declared as fire areas or state lands . As part of the Alon plan, a significant part of the lands in the area were expropriated and four Israeli settlements were established on them: Tomer, Gilgal, Fatza'el Netiv HaGdud. Illegal posts were erected over the years. Some of them were authorized during the 7th October War.
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Jordan Valley
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Jordan Valley The Jordan Valley is the eastern strip of the West Bank. Its area consists of almost a third of the West Bank area. About 10,000 settlers live there, about 65,000 Palestinian residents in the villages and towns. In addition, about 15,000 are scattered in small shepherd communities. These communities are living in severe distress because of two types of harassment: the military declaring some of their living areas, as fire zones, evicting them for long hours from their residence to the scorching heat of the summer and the bitter cold of the winter. The other type is abuse by rioters who cling to the grazing areas of the shepherd communities, and the declared fire areas (without being deported). The many groundwaters in the Jordan Valley belong to Mekorot and are not available to Palestinians living in the Jordan Valley. The Palestinians bring water to their needs in high-cost followers.
Rachel AfekApr-11-2025Samar, the girl from Faresya
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Turmus Aya
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Turmus Aya is a beautiful and well-kept Palestinian town in the Ramallah and al-Bira governorate, located in the Shiloh Valley, about 22 km north of Ramallah. Near Highway 60 at an altitude of about 732 m. In 2016, 4,781 residents lived in the town. After the 2nd intifada in 2001, hundreds immigrated to the US, but they come in the summer to visit their families and live in the nice houses they built.
Israel expropriated 752 dunams of the town's land for the establishment of the Shiloh settlement, in 1978, and another 372 dunams for the establishment of the Shebot Rachel settlement in 1992. According to the Oslo Agreement, the built-up area of TAos Aya was classified as area B. This area constitutes 64.7% of the town's land, and the rest, 35.3%, is area C.
Starting in 2015, the town's residents often suffer from harassment from the settlers of the Adi Ad outpost, which include the uprooting and cutting of olive trees, the burning of wheat fields and the spraying of anti-Netzka inscriptions.
On June 21, 2023, dozens of young people from outposts and surrounding settlements carried out a pogrom in broad daylight after the funeral of the victims of the attack that occurred two days earlier at the gas station in the settlement of Eli. The attack took place after the Israel Defense Forces' invasion of Jenin and the killing of innocents in the process - an invasion that took place after a previous event... and so on, deep into the non-stop blood equation that is always presented in Israel as terror attacks without context. They set fire to about 60 cars and about 30 houses with their occupants and threw stones, fire grenades and even shot from guns.The IDF soldiers watched the attack but didn't intervene. A villager was killed by soldier fire. Only 3 settlers were arrested after a few days, but charges have not yet been filed against them.
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