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Stop New Israeli Land Grab
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Progressive Portal
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Dec 17, 2004 18:05 PST
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EARLIER, WALL CUT OFF VILLAGE OF JAYYOUS FROM ITS OLIVE TREES;
NOW BULLDOZERS UPROOT THEM FOR ISRAELI SETTLEMENT
[From Progressive Portal <http://www.progressiveportal.org>]
In the wake of the death of Yassir Arafat, the mainstream media are
filled with talk of a new window of opportunity for peace between the
Israelis and the Palestinians. Meanwhile, however, Israeli authorities
continue to pursue the same policy they have followed for more than 50
years: While the diplomats chatter, the military, and the developers and
settlers who follow it, keep establishing new "facts on the ground" that
amount to an expansion of Israeli power at the expense of Palestinian
rights.
The latest example comes from the West Bank village of Jayyous. Located
about 6 kilometers (3.7 miles) east of the Green Line (Israel's
internationally recognized border), in the hills overlooking Israel's
coastal plain north of Tel Aviv, it is home to about 3,000 people, most
of whom make their living raising olives, citrus, and other fruits and
vegetables. In recent years, Jayyous has hosted scores of visitors from
the United States, and the village is friendly and mostly peaceful,
except when Israeli soldiers drive their jeeps through in the dark of
night and setting off sound bombs and shooting holes in residents' water
tanks.
Jayyous lost about 20 percent of its land to the Israelis in 1848. In
the 1980s and 1990s, Israel confiscated additional large tracts to build
two Jewish-only settlements. In 2003, construction of Israel's
"separation wall" cut off the villagers from 80 percent of their
remaining lands, as well as all seven of their wells. Some farmers got
permits to continue working their land, but many did not. Those who did
get permits can reach their fields only when the Israelis choose to open
the two gates in the wall near the village, and they are frequently
subjected to harassment and humiliation by teen-aged Israeli soldiers.
In recent days, Israeli bulldozers have appeared in the area and begun
knocking down olive trees in a Palestinian-owned grove to clear the way
for new settlement construction. They have uprooted at least 117 trees;
some were destroyed, while others were loaded into trucks for transport
to Tel Aviv, where they were to be sold, according to one of the truck
drivers.
In theory, to comply with the requirements of the international
"roadmap," the Israeli government has made a commitment to freeze
settlement activity. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has nevertheless
reserved the right to continue construction within existing settlements,
and the Israelis say the new construction near Jayyous is part of the
nearby Zufim settlement, more than half a kilometer (0.3 mile) away.
Asked to explain, a spokesman for the Israeli foreign ministry told the
Guardian (UK), "We are talking about places that it's accepted will
remain inside Israel whatever the outcome of final status talks. It's
possible that in those places the thinking is different."
In other words, the Israeli authorities have decided simply to annex
Jayyous's lands, with no negotiation, no compensation, and no
justification.
Israel couldn't get away with such unilateral actions without at least
tacit approval from the Bush administration. Write to your legislators,
the White House, the U.S State Department, and the Israeli authorities,
and tell them to stop the bulldozing and expropriation of Jayyous's
lands.
Take Action
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1. Contact the White House by phone at (202) 456-1111 or (202) 456-2580;
by fax to (202) 456-2461; by e-mail to president-AT-whitehouse.gov
(replace "-AT-" with "@"); or through the Web form at:
https://sawho14.eop.gov/PERS?verified=1
2. Contact your Senators and Representative by e-mail, or ideally by
phone. Use the Congressional switchboard - (800) 839-5276 - or, for
detailed contact information on your legislators, enter your ZIP Code
under "Write Congress" in the left column of Progressive Portal's home
page <http://www.progressiveportal.org> (and most Progressive Portal
pages), or at <http://congress.org>.
3. Send a fax to William Burns, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for
Near East Affairs, at (202) 736-4461.
4. Contact Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon by e-mail at
webma-@pmo.gov.il or asha-@knesset.gov.il or by fax to (from the
U.S.) 011-972-2-566-4838 or 011-972-2-670-5415.
5. Write to Caterpillar Corporation and object to use of its equipment
for the destruction of Jayyous's olive groves (photos of Cat equipment
at work are at <http://www.chris-on-the-bike.de/eappi_uprooting01.htm>):
Cat Board: http://www.progressiveportal.org/cat/?alrt
Cat Dealers: http://www.progressiveportal.org/cat2.html?alrt
More Information
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Reports on the recent uprooting of olive trees in Jayyous:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,1372963,00.html
http://www.ww3report.com/105/palestine/jayyous
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/512917.html
Excellent photos of the uprooting, taken by a German "ecumenical
accompanier":
http://www.chris-on-the-bike.de/eappi_uprooting01.htm
http://www.chris-on-the-bike.de/eappi_uprooting02.htm
Earlier Washington Post video of a Jayyous farmer explaining the effect
of the wall on his family and the village:
http://tinyurl.com/478du
(click on "Jayyus")
Additional background on Jayyous:
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20040308&s=bloom
http://www.ww3report.com/75.html#palestine1
http://www.jayyousonline.org/englishweb/englishindex.htm
http://stopthewall.org/photos/828.shtml
(includes photos and map showing planned settlement expansion)
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