Violation: confiscating 50 dunums of Kardala lands.
Location: Kardala.
Date: early March, 2010.
Violators: the ‘Civil Administration’ of the Israeli Occupation Government.
Victims: a number of Kardala farmers.
Details:
The Israeli Occupation Civil Administration decided the seizure of more than 50 dunums of Kardala lands. The issued order said that the confiscated areas are within the Army plans and are placed under the Israeli Occupation Army control.
The designated areas are owned by a number of farmers who used to plant it with cereals taking advantage of the huge ground water source located beneath the threatened area.
Ghassan Faqaha, Kardala Village Council Head stated to an LRC observer:’ the most recent confiscation order will severely damage the agriculture sector in the village.
Tens of dunums of the threatened lands are agricultural and if the Israelis execute the order this shall implicitly mean that the surrounding areas are also threatened. The village depends almost only on agriculture in living and such an order will ruthlessly damage the life in the village’.
Kardala… A Tragedy:
Kardala is located 23 km away from Tubas and 19 km away from Bisan City which was conquered in 1948. It is located in the northern valley and is connected to Tubas by the by-pass road 90.
Picture 1: an overview of Kardala
Kardala has been living the ‘Nakba’ (the catastrophe) over and over. The Israeli Occupation Authorities do not recognize it as a residential area. According to Oslo Agreement, Kardala is located within areas classified ‘C’ and is held under full Israeli control. This means that any structure in Kardala is illegal by the Israeli Occupation laws and is therefore threatened of demolition. 10 out of 18 structures in the village have already received demolition orders.
Moreover, the Israeli Occupation Authorities refuses to recognize the village and people living there address is ‘Ein el Beida instead of Kardala. Furthermore, the village lacks the least of services; it has no school, no village council, also, and not even a mosque.
The village is totally dependant on ‘Ein el Beida village which provide it with the educational and other services. Residents of Kardala lead a very simple life; they depend entirely on farming and raising cattle in their living. However, the village has been a constant target for the unstoppable Israeli aggressions.
‘Since 1948, Kardala has been a target for the continuous Israeli aggressions. The Israelis tend to force the residents to leave by any means necessary. The Israeli military region commander paid the village many visits and informed the villagers that they will eventually depart even if they had to use power to do so.
However, the villagers insist that they will never leave and they consider themselves as the first line of defense for the other nomads’ gatherings in the area.’
Regardless of the suffering…Kardala will remain green
Surprisingly, the village is full of planted fields in addition to the large numerous grazing areas spreading around the village. However, the Israelis are trying to devastate the agricultural field in the village. It must be known that village sole source of water is the Israeli Company ‘Mikrot’ which pumps the amount of 5m3 per hour to the village.
This amount of water does not cover the needs of the village and whenever the villagers apply for more water; their application is rejected since the Israeli consider the village illegal. This forces the villager to obtain water from other costly sources like water tanks.
It must be known that the Israelis have built numerous water reservoirs in order to control the ground water sources beneath the village.
Picture 2: Kardala agriculturallands
Picture 3: an Israeli water reservoir placed in the heart of Kardala
An Israeli water reservoir placed in the middle of Kardala in order to pump water to the Israeli colonies. Furthermore, the Israelis disallow the farmers to use many types of pesticides claiming that their usage is forbidden for ‘security reasons’. This has sternly affected agriculture in the area. The most crucial problem that faces the farmers is marketing.
On the one hand, the process is costly if they wanted to sell their crop in the distant Palestinian cities. On the other hand, they’ll face the risk of losing their crop if they decided to sell it inside ‘Israel’. To do so, the villagers have to pass through Bisan checkpoint which is open Sunday to Thursday from 12:00 to 3:00 p.m., and they have to suffer from extreme ‘security measures and inspection’.
Sometimes, they lose a lot of their crop due to the Israeli soldiers’ cruelty and because of the heat.
Kardala… a closed military zone in the eyes of the Israelis
Suffering is part of these people daily life, Kardala, for instance, is located 23 km away from Tubas City, the Israeli measures forced many of its residents to leave. Only 400 residents remain.
Picture 4+5: Kardala agricultural fields used as atraining ground
Most of Kardala lands are considered ‘military zones’ used for various types of trainings conducted by the Israeli Occupation Army. Such training caused additional suffering for the residents whether directly or by the leftovers of the Israeli Occupation Army which might include land minds, ammunition, etc.
Furthermore, surrounding the village and preventing getting in and out of the village has become a habit. The Israelis pay no attention to the effects of their actions on the Palestinian residents. The total area of Kardala is 1500 dunum and it’s inhabited by 2 clans, Faqha and ‘Araysha who have Egyptian ascendants.
