The Jayyous Village Council received on the 29th of May 2008 a detailed map issued by the Israeli Court of Justice and signed by the general command of the Israeli occupation army in the West Bank. The map indicates a re-routing of the path of the Israeli Racist Isolation Wall in the village of Jayyous. According to the map, about 2820 dunums (out of 8600 dunums) isolated beyond the Wall will be “given” back to the village starting from Wall Gate Number 927 (a.k.a. Flamiya Gate) and finishes at Gate Number 943 (a.k.a. Jayyous Northern Gate). See Map 1
The foreseen effects of the re-routing of the path of the Wall include:
-
2820 dunums will be returned to the village of Jayyous.
-
The new section of the Wall will be 4720 meters in length with an average width of 150 meters, leading to additional destruction of Palestinian agricultural lands. Keeping in mind that the length of old section of the Wall that was cancelled is 2133 meters with a width of 150 meters, the area of the new section is twice the area used to establish the old section.
-
The returned lands are all located in an area called Al Youbek west of the village in parcels 15, 16, 18, 14, 9 and 10. The lands are owned by 49 Palestinian farmers from the village which a minority in comparison with the 424 farmers whose lands were left behind the Wall.
-
Gates 927 and 943 will be removed and no alternative ones will be installed. This fact is expected to lead to huge access problems for more than 400 farmers who used to use the gates to access their isolated lands.
Photo 1: The Israeli Racist Wall whose route is expected to be changed.
It should be noted that the Jayyous Village Council has decided to submit an appeal to the Israeli Supreme Court regarding the new re-routing decision. The appeal will be filed through a legal centre which, in turn, will demand the opening of new gates in the new section in the Wall.
It is worth noting that the new decision was issued based on the recommendation of the Israeli Minister of Defense in association with the Security Authority of the colony of Tzufin. The recommendation came as a result of the petition filed by the people of Jayyous in which they called for the abolition of the Wall and to return it to the Green Line.
On the other hand, the Jayyous Village Council submitted on May 25th, 2008 a request to the Israeli so-called “Civil Administration” on behalf of 32 farmers who own agricultural lands behind the Wall to allow them access to their lands through gates 927, 943 and 979. However, only 4 requests were approved on June 25th, 2008. That was despite the fact that those who were rejected were issued similar permits in the past. Once their permits have expired, they have tried to renew them, yet their requests were rejected in attempt to prevent the farmers from reaching their lands as a prelude to its confiscation. This trend is evident as 425 Palestinian farmers have the right to apply for permit to access their lands located beyond the Wall. However, only 124 of them were given such permits.
Photo 2: Gate Number 943
Furthermore, occupation authorities impose impossible conditions on land owners trying to obtain permits to allow them to enter their lands, namely: giving them permits that can be used only at particularly gates located far away from their agricultural land, and sometimes deliberately delaying the issuing of permits for long periods. Moreover, some requests for permits are turned down for “security” reasons expressed by the Israeli Intelligence or for the claim that the farmer requesting the permit does not have enough documents showing his ownership of the land. All of these policies are aimed at obstructing the issuance of permits and pushing the farmers to leave their agricultural lands.
The Israeli Racist Isolation Wall in Jayyous:
After the establishment of the Wall on the lands of Jayyous, the area of the village was shrunk to a mere 3300 dunums as the route of the Wall destroyed 600 dunums and isolated 8600 dunums behind it including 6 artesian wells. Moreover, the isolated lands had 120 dunums of Green Houses and more than 50,000 citrus trees whereas around 4,000 olive trees were uprooted.
It is noteworthy that the Wall penetrates Jayyous from the northwestern side at a depth of 4 km from the Green Line, and at a depth of 6 km on the southeastern side of the village. Some of the houses in the village are located only a few meters away from the Wall.
The length of the Wall in Jayyous is 6 kilometers. It cut off of the agricultural roads used by Palestinian farmers to reach their lands that are currently located beyond the Wall. Only two gates were placed in the Wall, namely Gate 943 and 979, from which Palestinian farmers can, theoretically, access their lands.
Prepared by:
The Land Research Center
LRC
