Turmus Aya, Horrific sights of vandalism perpetrated by “our people”

A visit to Turmus Aya, and a drive through Huwwara

Driving to Turmus Aya, we passed Azoun village and saw several army posts at its entrance, manned – the gate was open. We also saw soldiers standing next to bus stops at the entrance to colonies. In Huwwara shops are mostly open (not all). The damages seem to have been repaired in this town, and soldiers are seen on the main street.

Beyond the main street, construction of a huge by-pass road, amazing in size and extending up to the Za’atara-Tapuach Junction. Both the environment and the people whose land has been confiscated are greatly impacted.

At Turmus Aya we met the town engineer who lives in Ramallah but is originally from A-Sawiya and his lands are caged near the Separation Fence by Bidiya. They cannot be tended because the few days and hours in which the gate is opened by the Israeli authorities are not enough either to harvest olives or tend the ground. The owners have given up.

We drove with the engineer to see the damage done to the town. 10 houses and 30 vehicles were incinerated. The estimated damage to each house runs between 100,000 and 130,000 dollars.

There is the damage of direct fire, or caused because a room or furniture or trees were burnt and secondary damage done from the smoke that entered the houses all the way to the top floors, so walls, ceilings, floors and naturally furniture are also damaged. It’s terrible. One house was damaged to the point that it must be rebuilt because of the cracks and sinking that took place. We met family members busy with repairs, the man in the burnt room, the entire entrance went up in flames, furniture and everything – the whole house was filled with soot. A part of the wall has been cleaned and naturally needs new plaster and paint, to say nothing of furniture that must be bought.