Location, Population and Area:
The village of Jinsafut, Qalqilia Governorate, is located 15 kilometers to the east of the city of Qalqilia. Its population is about 2,500 Palestinians. About 78% of the population used to depend on working in Israel and in the agricultural sector. Yet, due to the deteriorating security situation during the recent Intifadat Al Aqsa, a large percentage of the population became unemployed. There are a number of families in the village including Al Ayoub, Al Sukkar, Al Saber, Al Allan, Al Nassar and Al Basheer.
The total area of the village is 8658 dunums of which 1248 is used for building purposes.
(Map 1: location of Jinsafut and Wall path)
Recent Israeli Violations:
Israeli occupation forces have started in the middle of December 2006 a series of land plowings which affected more than 100 dunums of the village's most fertile agricultural land that is located in the vicinity of the settlement of Emmanuel (established 1982, population in 2004 was 2585, municipal area is 1909 dunums of which 328 dunums as built up area). The plowing took place in the northern side of the settlement. It is note worthy that it is the second time that such plowing takes place during the Intifada in an attempt to increase the area of the mentioned settlement and to install a barbwire fence on its eastern edge.
Photo 1 : the settlement of Emmanuel east of Jinsafut)
The new plowing is a dangerous development due to the following facts:
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It would prevent hundreds of Palestinian families from the village and nearby villages from planting the plowed lands, which would constitute a major loss of source of income. It is note worthy that the land owners have tried more than once to plant their plowed lands only to be prevented by Israeli occupation forces on a number of occasions.
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The establishment of the barbwire fence would lead to the confiscation of more than 2,000 dunums of fertile olive-planted lands. These lands will be used later for further settlement expansion.
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The psychological effects of being surrounded, besieged and caged in are immense and are capable of depressing Palestinians living close to the fence.
Field Worker's Visit:
During a field visit conducted by the Land Research Center's field worker in the village, he met with a number of Palestinians who will be negatively affected by the land confiscation including:
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Abdulla Bashir, a resident of Jinsafut who lost more than 40 dunums of his planted lands and became totally dependant on external assistance.
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Husein Abdel Jabbar, a resident of Jinsafut who lost half of his land where the plowing is taking place while the other half is now located behind the plowing line. The total area of the lost land is 64 dunums.
Closure of an Agricultural Road:
Israeli occupation forces have, also, closed off an old agricultural road that was used for hundreds of years. The municipality of Jinsafut has rehabilitated the road and made it accessible by tractors to enable the farmers to reach their lands. Yet, upon the completion of the road the so-called 'civil' administration declared it to be closed off due to 'lack of permit'. As a reaction, the municipality filed with the 'civil' administration a request to gain a permit, yet it was immediately turned down. The closed off road was designed to serve more than 60 farmers.
Prepared by
The Land Research Center
LRC
