Eviction Orders in Al Jalama in Jenin city

Violation: eviction orders for four commercial structures in Al Jalama village to be carried out within 24 hours.

Location: Al Jalama – Jenin.

Perpetrators: the Israeli Occupation Army.

Victims: four Palestinian families.

Date: October 9, 2011.

 

‘they want to deprive us from our livelihood; what would be left after confiscating our lands, rendering us homeless, destroying agriculture, and preventing workers from working. Now they want to take away the only source of income for my family.‘ This how Rayeq Shaban, an owner of a toy store in Al Jalama, described the situation he and his fellow villagers are facing due to the Israeli measures.

 

 

The Israeli Occupation Army ordered the eviction of 4 shops located on the main road leading to Al Jalama crossover which is separating Jenin from lands occupied in 1948.The Army ordered the evacuation to be carried out within 24 hours if the owners want to escape the consequences; the Israeli Army claimed that the shops were ‘illegally’ built edging the main road.

 

Victim	Family members	Structure	remarks
Rayeq Shaban	7	Toy store	It had been previously notified and demolished
Mohammad abu Farha	5	Hawker	Previously notified
Amir abu Farha	9	Hawker
Ghassan al Dayasa	8	Pottery shop	It had been previously notified and demolished
Total	29

 

It must be noted that it is not the first time that such an incident happen; a number of plotter shops and commercial booths have been destroyed throughout the years; most recently, at the beginning of 2011.

 

Al Jalama is located 3 km to the north of Jenin; it is inhabited by around 2300 people who used to depend largely on agriculture and working in ‘Israel’ in their living. However, the Israeli measures hit the village’s economy hard; there were four active water cisterns in the village which used to act as the main provider of drinking water and other usages as well.

 

The Israelis did not only confiscate the lands and the wells but also dried them out, forcing the locals to start buying water and transporting it using water tanks which deteriorated the village situation even more. Most of Al Jalama lands have been used for rain fed agriculture while 400 dunums are used for green housing, 300 dunums planted with olives, and 350 dunums used for irrigated agriculture.

 

The village of Al Jalama and the two towns of Sandala and Al Muqbeila (occupied in 1948) used to have social and economic ties as well as family ties as they were considered to be one unit. The clans present in these three towns include Al Omari, Abu Farha, Sahori, Sha’aban, Abu Issa in addition to the clan of Radi. These communities used to have one school and one mosque until the Nakba took place in 1948 when these communities were forcefully separated.

In terms of the Racist Isolation Wall, it was established on the villages’ lands at a length of 3.5 kilometers with a width of 50 meters. It destroyed 175 dunums of Al Jalam’s most fertile lands while isolating the village from its natural sister villages occupied in 1948.