Palestinian farmers fear a repeat of 1948 as Israel's apartheid wall separates them from their land. International Solidarity Movement activist John Petrovato writes from Jayyous When I left for Palestine in July, a number of friends told me I was going at a historical moment. The prospects for peace seemed good, and the implementation of Bush's roadmap appeared to be having some success. Much media attention around the roadmap provided some optimism. Though I wish such optimism were warranted, the situation on the ground for Palestinians has continued to deteriorate. A case in point is the impact that Israel's construction of the apartheid wall is having on the village of Jayyous. Situated about six kilometres east of the Green Line in the Qalqilya district, Jayyous is threatened with losing over 75 per cent of its land to the construction of the wall. Village residents are very worried that they will not be able to sustain a life on their land and that they, like the people who "fled" in 1948 and 1967, will become refugees. The small village sits neatly on a hillside overlooking its farmlands. A few years ago, looking down on the fields below one could see evidence of many different kinds of agricultural projects, greenhouses, small dirt roads with tractors, donkeys and families working in the fields. It was peaceful and quiet and had very much the same feel as in the days gone by. Today, however, things are radically different. The apartheid wall that Israel is erecting to supposedly "separate the people and provide security for Israeli citizens" has changed all this. The wall has dramatically altered the visual landscape in Jayyous. Instead of the peaceful valley below, the most striking visual entity is the massive scar snaking across the countryside. The wall meanders over the land, stretching as far as the eye can see. Depending on the state of construction and location, this wall constitutes much more than just a barrier. It encompasses a wide section of cleared land approximately eight metres wide, it is surrounded by tunnels of barbed wire fences about three metres wide by three metres high. Tall and large yellow metal gates dot its path. However, almost all the gates separating one side of the village from the other are closed; there is only one gate open for travel. Farmers in the village must pass through this single gate to get to their fields, no matter how far that gate is from their land. This "open" gate sits about three metres higher than the roads that the farmers use to reach it. Approaching and passing the gate, as well as travelling back down to the road, is fraught with difficulties for the farmers who have to avoid getting stuck in loose sand and large boulders. Crossing through an "open" gate is not as straightforward as one might imagine. Not only are the farmers required to travel miles out of their way to reach the crossing point, they also have to deal with the private Israeli security forces hired by the construction company. Despite the fact that these security forces constitute neither a police nor military force, they often prevent people from crossing through the fence. They frequently require Palestinians to show their identification cards before being allowed to pass, saying that while the land on either side of the fence is Palestinian, the fence and the road along it are the property of the state of Israel. Thus while the Israeli government has granted temporary permission to the Palestinians to access their land -- which now falls on the Israeli side of the wall -- these private security forces continually harass the farmers. There have been a number of recent incidents in Jayyous in which young male farmers were detained for hours at the gate and beaten up. In other incidents, the farmers have also been harassed both by Israeli settlers from nearby settlements and by Israeli soldiers. This atmosphere of intimidation and fear has made many farmers too apprehensive to go to their fields. The residents of Jayyous have been committed to non- violent resistance against these policies. Many farmers, for instance, have set up camps on the sections of their farms that are located on the Israeli side of the wall. Though the Israelis have the military force to prevent Palestinians from building any permanent structures on their land, farmers have set up temporary structures such as tents, old school buses or make-shift shelters on their land. Their hope is that by maintaining a presence on their land they would be able to retain possession of it. It remains merely a hope considering that there have been many other similar situations in which the Palestinians have lost control over their land. Another example of non-violent action in the village is protest marches. Maintaining a policy of non-violence, people in the village regularly march to the fence and gates to express their frustration to the private security forces and the soldiers who subsequently show up to quell the marches. In July there was a march organised by a women's group. The protesters walked to one of the closed gates along the fence, and though they merely carried signs and chanted slogans, they were met by a large military force. The only press that was there to cover the protest was a reporter from a South Korean newspaper. There is no doubt that access to the road to peace is controlled by the Israeli military. The movement of Palestinians has been severely restricted and the question must be asked: could other nations deal with such an unjust and terrifying situation for as long a period of time as the Palestinian people have done?
