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

Date of Informing Land Owners	Date of Work Inception	The Violation
No official written order was given	December 2001	The confiscation of 11 dunums for the purpose of establishing a trading zone next to Al Jalama – Muqaibleh checkpoint. The land belongs to Saleh Mahmoud Abu Farha, Mazen Saleem Abu Farha, Fatima Abdel Qader Abu Farha, Mohammad Rashed Abu Farha and his brothers
No official written order was given	November 2003	The confiscation of 8 dunums to establish a new trading zone close to Al Jalama – Muqaibleh checkpoint. The land belongs to the heirs of Fawzi Abu Farha and Ahmad Abu Farha.
24/2/2003	April 2003	The confiscation and isolation of more than 500 dunums to be used for Wall purposes.
No official written order was given	December 2001	The declaration of more than 250 dunums as ''No Entry Areas'' for the benefit of the Jalama Checkpoint.
No official written order was given	December 2001	The destruction of the vegetable market of the village. It used to have more than 100 stores built of Zinco. The names of owners of these stores are registered at the Jenin Chamber of Commerce.
No official written order was given	January 2004	The confiscation of large quantities of stones extracted from 5 dunums of Palestinian lands to be used for the construction of the Wall.
No official written order was given	Beginning of 2003	The destruction of waterlines in addition to large portions of plastic houses due to its proximity to the Wall

 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:   

Absentee Property and State Land Department District:     Jenin   Date:    24/2/2003 Mr. Abdullah Saeed Mahmoud Abu Farha / Al Jalama  Announcement   This is to inform you that the Israeli Army has put its hand, closed off, became the owner of the area located in basin 5, parcel  7 from the land of the village of Al Jalama according to Military Order 03/23/N to be used for military purposes/public benefit.    The owners of the area have the right to contact the District Liaison Office in Salem to ask about their right of compensation and renting fees.   Accept My Respect Head of Absentee property and state land

 

Table 2: Affected landowners registered at the Agricultural department

Name	Area in Dunums	Damage Amount in US$
Amina Abdel Qader Qasem Al Arja	3	2,250
Ibraheem Mahmoud Abdel Rahman Abu Farha	16	1,920
Ahmad Saeed Ali Shaban	6	720
Jamal Ahmad Abdel Hadi Abu Farha	54	8,100
Khairiya Abdullah Abu Farha	58	6,960
Rafe' Ribhi Taqawi	2	240
Zakariya Abdel Qader Abu Farha	5	810
Saeed Mahmoud Ibraheem Abu Farha	12	1,440
Saleem Abdel Rahman Mahmoud Abu Farha	96	11,300
Sadeq Rawzi Abu Farha	12	1,440
Saleh Mahmoud Qasem Abu Farha	7	480
Sidqi Mahmoud Saleh Abu Farha	87	10,440
Tariq Mohammad Qasem Hamdan	23	2,760
Abdel Latif Saleh Abu Issa	—	—
Abdullah Ibraheem Khaleel Abu Farha	13	—
Arafat Mahmoud Abdel Rahman Aby Farha	8	960
Omar Fadel Rashed Abu Farha	5	600
Eid Abdullah Abu Eid	2	—
Fuad Yousef Asmar	2	240
Fatima Abdel Qader Abu Farha	8	3,750
Latifa Abdel Rahman Abu Farha	3	—
Ma'amoun Fawzi Abu Farha	6	720
Mazen Saleem Abu Farha	12	1,440
Al Jalama Village Council	A historical well
Mohammad Rashed Abdullah Abu Farha	2	240
Mohammad Marei Hasan Abu Farha	4	480
Mahmoud Sidqi Mahmoud Abu Farha	65	7,800
Mahmoud Qasem Mahmoud Abu Farha	4	480
Mahmoud Yousef Abdulla Massad	25	3,000
Islamic Waqf	2	240
Mustafa Yaseen Hasan Shaban	150	22,500
Nader Rashed Abu Farha	8	960
Nazem Abdel Raheem Abu Farha	4	480
Nidal Khaled Ibraheem Abu Farha	150	22,500
Na'eem Yousef Massad	8	960
Hashem Mahmoud Saleh Abu Farha	8	960
Hani Saleem Qasem Abu Farha	2	—
Yusri Diab Samoudi	8	960
Yousef Ahmad Yousef Al Omari	30	3,600
Total	910	121730

 

 

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