Friday, 23 June 2006Eyeing a firm grip on the strategic Jordan Valley, Israel has been harassing local Palestinians, preventing them access to vital sources of income and isolating them from neighboring areas to force them out.
"Israel wants to cut off the Palestinians from all signs of life, especially from the commercial side," Tamer Hamdan, a farmer in al-Jiftlik village in the Valley, told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
"They want to force us to leave our land by cutting our sources of living," charged the man who owns lands around the enclaved village.
Israel captured the area in the 1967 Middle East war. It insists on controlling the area in any future agreement with the Palestinians.
Israel attaches a major strategic importance to the valley which gives it control of the Jordan River, one of the most vital lifelines and best natural water resources in the Middle East.
"Control of the Jordan Valley enables Israel to deal with any likely eventuality to the east," claims former Israeli ambassador to the UN Dore Gold.
He argues that the Israeli military presence in the area enables it to stop arms smuggling into the West Bank.
No Access
Palestinian villagers accuse Israel of barring their agricultural produce access into neighboring Nablus.
"Many fields stand empty because no one can pass. There are no roads we can take, no markets to reach, no money and no security," says Hamdan.
Thirty-five percent of Palestinian agricultural produce comes from the Jordan Valley.
Along the road winding up the golden-sand valley, 15 kilometers wide and 100 kilometers long, fertile fields and greenhouses stand side by side and in sharp contrast with abandoned fields.
Israel is also banning Palestinian farmers from receiving fertilizers to plant their fields on claims of security fears.
"Israel won't give us fertilizers because they say we will use them to build bombs," says Hisham al-Razek while sitting in his garage.
Israel allows Palestinians living in the valley and workers in the 21 settlements it has built in the area since 1967 to cross four checkpoints which separate the West Bank from the Jordan Valley.
It denies entry to all other Palestinians, including owners of fields who live outside the valley.
Demolition
Complicating the Palestinian daily life, Israeli authorities have demolished many Palestinian houses in the Jordan Valley on claims of being built without permit.
Hamdi Caanan, who comes from the village of Beit Dajan and owns a field outside Jiftlik, told AFP that Israeli bulldozers flattened his home to the ground.
He found no other place to go but to convert an old bus into a home.
The Israeli army confirmed the demolition, claiming it was "part of the reinforcement policy against illegal construction among both the Jewish and Palestinian population."
Orit Arzieli, head of the Jordan Valley Communities Board, admitted that Israel was limiting the expansion of the Palestinian communities in the area.
"This is true, they should not be here. There is a constant trickling of Arabs from Nablus who want to populate the valley," she told AFP.
"The Jordan Valley must stay under Israeli control."
AFP via IslamOnline.net & News Agencies
June 22, 2006 |
Friday, 23 June 2006
Palestine
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