The situation in the village is relatively calm
A., from the village Sawiya, near Nablus, spoke with me on the phone today.
He says they have things relatively easy. At the moment they can travel on Road 60 (the village is right on the road), but refrain from doing so after dark.
In order to get to Nablus, they must make a detour that lengthens the route and the time it takes considerably. There are not many colonist harassments or raids of the army there.
As an individual with a family who holds a permit and makes his living (usually), he prefers to keep himself safe, wait quietly for the war to end and the difficult days to pass.
He says he does not post ‘Like’ anything on the social media. Still, he was blacklisted by the secret services lately, (we did petition for him a few years back, and the prevention was lifted at the time. He did have a permit until war broke out.)
We parted, hoping for better days…
A-Sawiya
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A-Sawiya
Located about 18 km south of Nablus.
The population of the village was 2,904 in 2016. In 1983, about 400 dunams, on a hill about a kilometer south of the village, were declared "state lands" and the settlement of Ali was established on them. Over the years, the settlement has expanded to additional lands privately owned by the villagers, and nearby villages in an area of about 1,000 dunams. Only in 2013 was an outline plan prepared for Ali, in which hundreds of illegal structures were approved in its territory. In 2017, a synagogue was built in the Ali settlement, in violation of the law without permits, outside the legal territory of the settlement and on private Palestinian land of a-Sawiya residents.
Over the years, the settlement has expanded to additional lands privately owned by the villagers, and nearby villages in an area of about 1,000 dunams. Only in 2013 was an outline plan prepared for Ali, in which hundreds of illegal structures were approved in its territory. , Outside the legal territory of the settlement and on private Palestinian land of the residents of a-Sawiyah.
Checkpoint Watch companies have been in contact with the village since 2007. They document the checkpoints, the settlers' violence, the sewage problems flowing from the nearby settlements and outposts, and even held knitting and English lessons with women in the village. Even during the Corona we were in telephone contact to help the plight of the residents.
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