Al Jalama: a border village totally isolated by the Wall and the military Checkpoints

Location and population:

The village of Al Jalama is located 6 kilometers to the north of Jenin city, in Jenin governorate. The population of the villages is estimated at 2000 inhabitants, mostly working in agriculture and trade.

Village Area: The village area is 4000 dunums of which 1020 are designated as built up area.

Record of Israeli violations against the village: There are a number of Israeli violations against the village that include:   

Table 1: Israeli violations against the village of Al Jalama

 Total Length of Wall in the village: About 3.5 kilometers.

Methods used to inform Owners of Land Confiscation: A number of Palestinian landowners received letters by registered mail sent to them by the Israeli Army. One such letter reads as the following:   

Table 2: Affected landowners registered at the Agricultural department

Location of the Village vis-a-vie the Wall:

The Wall surrounds the village from the north and the west. Moreover, the Jenin-Jalama checkpoint strangles the village from its east-of-south edge. The Wall distance from the village houses ranges between 20- 250 meters. See Photo 1

 The retaining wall of the Segregation Wall built on the land of Al Jalama, Photo courtesy of LRC

Nature of the Confiscated Lands: Mostly basin.

 Background Information about the Village of Al Jalama: 

The village of Al Jalama is located on the Green Line next to the villages of Muqaibleh and Sandalah on the other side of the Line. Marital and other social relationships strongly exist between the Palestinians of Al Jalama and their counterparts in Muqaibleh and Sandalah as the distance between them ranges between 300 to 1000 meters only.

The village of Al Jalama is considered to be agriculturally advanced due to its proximity to the Green Line as plastic houses and irrigated vegetations spread throughout its relatively small basin. It is very well known for the quality of its production which was easily marketed to  Palestinians of 1948 through the village's main market before the current Intifada. The Al Jalama market place was also utilized in marketing vegetables and livestock coming from West Bank farming communities, especially those of Tubas and Jenin. See Photo 2 

 Al Jalama- Jenin: A truck traveling on the Wall road carrying material for the Wall construction and a barrack owned by a Palestinian from the village. The barrack is only 20 meters away from the Wall path, Photo courtesy of LRC

The village used to be the main gate into and out of the Green Line as commercial goods used to enter Jenin through Al Jalama- Muqaibleh and Al Jalama-Jenin checkpoints, these goods were translated into economic benefits for the residents of this border village. Nowadays, the village is suffering due to the existence of the Wall and the other violations committed by the Israeli forces.   

The effects of the Wall can be divided into a number of categories that include:

Economic Effects: 

• The deprivation of more than 200 workers from the village from the chance of reaching their workplaces inside the Green Line which led to a considerable reduction of their income and life styles.

• The demolition of a large number of plastic houses as well as the confiscation of wide areas of agricultural lands.

• The destruction of the local vegetable market, erecting sandy road blocks, as well as the erection of the Wall left no access point for the market inside the Green Line. Moreover, the closure of Al Jalama-Jenin checkpoint for days (occasionally) has led to the spoilage of the produce while in the trucks not to mention the sharp drop in prices due to over congestion of agricultural products.
   

• The demolition of the market place has cut off the main source of income for about 100 families from the villages of Jenin, Tubas as well as the village of Al Jalama.

Social Effect:

• As mentioned earlier, there are marriage relations between the residents of the village and villages on the other side of the Green Line. When work on the Wall began, tens of families whose heads were married to women from Muqaibleh and Sandalah ended up having to move into the Green Line causing their separation from their original families in Al Jalama.

• The prevention of casual family visits between the families of Al Jalama and the above-mentioned two villages.

• The increase of social and psychological pressures due to the siege of Al Jalama as it is besieged from the southern end by the Al Jalama-Jenin checkpoint where Palestinians are forced to stand in long lines for hours before they are allowed to enter or to leave Al Jalama. Moreover, the village is surrounded by the Green Line in the north and by Al Jalama- Muqaibleh checkpoint where only few merchants with special permits are allowed to go through.  See Photo 3

 Al Jalama- Jenin: another truck working in the Wall construction which passes very close to Palestinian houses in the village, Photo courtesy of LRC

Security Effect: 

• The lives of the residents of the village are usually threatened when they try to access their farms as most of it, along with their houses, are located close to the Wall. Such a fact causes the farmers to feel insecure while at work on their lands due to the increased and noticeable presence of Israeli patrols.  See Photo 4 

Al Jalama- Jenin: in the background, the village Muqaibleh on the other side of the green line separated from Al Jalama by the Wall and the newly established border trade point in the foreground. Photo courtesy of LRC

Prepared by
The Land Research Center
LRC