The Israeli Occupation destroys a number of tube wells in Kafr Dan village

Violation: the destruction of number of tube wells.

Location: Kafr Dan Village to the northern west of Jenin City.

Date: February 24, 2010.

Violators: the Israeli Occupation Army.

Introduction: after the Israeli Occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in 1967, the Israelis have not only taken control of the land but they also laid their hands on the various water sources.

Before 1967, the Palestinians depended on 3 different water sources that included the Jordan River, wells, and tube wells. After the Israeli Occupation, the Israeli have forbidden the Palestinians from building any type of wells without acquiring a special permit from the Israeli Government.

Now, all the water sources are controlled by the Israelis. An Israeli Company called ‘Mikrot’ is the sole distributer of water in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

Violation:

On February 24, 2010, a group of Israeli soldiers accompanied by two Israeli dozers destroyed a number of tube wells in Kafr Dan. They also confiscated some of the tools and sabotaged others. This is done during the spring course when all the farmers become dependant on such wells water in watering the various crops. The total losses can be summarized in the following table:

No.	Victim	Pumping capacity	Number of families	Total area (dunum)	Damage
1	Mostapha ‘Abed and associates	18 m³ / hour. 200 meters deep well	8	200, including 7 dunums of greenhouses and 25 of trees	Confiscation of pump and sabotaging pipes and cables
2	Tariq al Sa’adi	16 m³/ hour. 130 meters deep well	9	Serves the only seedling facility in the village. It serves 2.5 dunums of seedling, 1.5 trees, and 5 dunums of greenhouses	Sabotaging pipes and cables and throwing the pump into the well
3	Subhi Mer’ii	16m³/hour. 200 meters in depth	6	70 dunums of vegetables, 3 greenhouses, and 10 trees	Sabotaging pipes and cables and throwing the pump into the well
4	Baha’ Mer’ii	15 m³/ hour	7	12 dunums of greenhouses, 10 trees, and 40 vegetables	Sabotaging pipes and cables and throwing the pump into the well
5	Ahmad ‘Abed	7 m³/ hour. 160 meter in depth	10	9 dunums of greenhouses and 20 vegetables	Expropriating the pump, sabotaging the irrigation network, and shooting the owner in the tummy causing minor injury
6	Nasir ‘Abed	22 m³/ hour. 167 m in depth	14	11 dunums of greenhouses, 25 trees, and 50 vegetables	Confiscating the pump, sabotaging the irrigation network, and plowing 1 dunum planted with vegetables
total			54	553

* Note: 1 dunum = 1000 m²

Picture 1: part of the agricultural lands that used to benefit from one of the wells

Kafr Dan village is suffering from the greedy Israeli side that wishes to control all the sources of water in Palestine. The village sub terrain is overwhelmed by water and the villagers have been trying to exploit these water sources even before the Israeli conquest of the West Bank.

According to Mr. Mer’ii, the president of the Village Council, there are more than 80 tube wells in the village, most of them were discovered and have been used before the Israeli conquest of the village in 1967. However, he said that only 5 wells have obtained work permits and the others are labeled ‘illegal’ by the Israelis despite the fact that the wells are located in areas classified ‘B’ according to Oslo Agreement and that Palestinians do not need to obtain work permits from the Israeli side. Nevertheless, the Israelis have assumed control over all the water sources in Palestine; neglecting any previous Agreements.

Kafr Dan:

Kafr Dan is located 5 km to the north west of Jenin City. Its total area is 7328 dunum including 300 dunums of built-up area. It is surrounded by Burqin, south, Yamun, west, and Jenin City, east.

4000 dunums of the village area are part of the fertile plain called ‘Marj Ibn ‘Amer’ and the area is planted with different types of vegetables and contains hundreds of green houses. The rest of the village area is planted with different types of trees including fig, prunus, olives, etc.

It must be pointed that the village is rich with its groundwater. The locals dug tens of tube wells in order to take advantage of the water. The village is inhabited by 5312 people according to the PBS statistics of 2008.