Barriers to life - how a fence can strangle a village

It was dark when we set off. Walking through the village just after 4 in the morning, we met sleepy men on their way to work, lunch boxes in hand. We were on our way out to the Falamya gate, which separates the farmers of Jayyous from their land. I was suddenly aware of the huge difference between my home country of Sweden, and Palestine: Here, freedom of movement cannot be taken for granted.

The separation barrier is one of Israel’s main transgressions of international law in the West Bank. It is a barrier, partly razor-wire fence, partly concrete wall, being constructed by the state of Israel under the pretext of security. At certain points there are gates to allow farmers to access their land - at least, those farmers who manage to obtain permits from the Israeli authorities.

We arrived at the gate just before dawn. A queue had formed, as the soldiers checked the men’s permits and the kind of material they were taking to their farms. Some agricultural implements are banned on the grounds of security.

The wall at Jayyous is about 5 km east of the Green Line. The area between the Green Line and the wall is designated as a buffer zone by the Israeli government. Every Palestinian entering the seam zone has to have a permit, even to access their own land the other side of the barrier. Israel of course has the duty to protect its citizens – within its borders. But by effectively annexing large areas of fertile land, the barrier seriously damages the livelihoods of people in villages like Jayyous.

The barrier at Jayyous is more than a fence. It is a multi-layered fence system about 50-60 m wide. There are three fences, with large coils of razor wire (a type of barbed wire) for the two outer fences, and a lighter-weight electrified fence with sensors in the middle. There are patrol roads on both sides of the middle fence, along with a steep anti-vehicle ditch and a smoothed dirt strip on the other side to show footprints.

About 75% of the villager’s farming land is on the far side, which means that the farmers have to go through a gate in the fence to get to their property.  These gates aren’t open all the time – the three that we monitor have different opening times. One is open for only an hour and a quarter every day.

In addition, not everyone can go through the gate to get to their land – only the people with agricultural permits are allowed through.  In the village of Jayyous only 10 percent of landowners have permits.  Sometimes the permit-holder is a woman or a very old person, which makes it impossible to use the permit, since they need to be accompanied. Permits are given for a short period of time, often three to six months. Obtaining a permit does not guarantee renewal next time.

During the two hours we were there 54 men, 12 women and 5 children passed the gate. They used all forms of transportation – tractors, donkeys, walking, riding bikes, very few trucks and the occasional horse.  On this occasion, everyone was allowed into the other side; this isn’t always the case.

As we stood there, a young man arrived riding bareback on a beautiful horse. He galloped up to the gate, dismounted the horse and tied it up. Having gone through the security routine, he untied it and galloped off towards his fields. If only life in the West Bank was always so easy.