Living beside a settlement in Wadi al-Hussein

This week the Hebron team made it a priority to visit the Da'ana family in Wadi al-Hussein, just outside Hebron city. We soon discovered what it was like for an isolated Palestinian family to be located beside a settlement. While the world is aware of the effects of the so-called "security barrier" or Wall, we got a glimpse of what the effects of separation fence has had on the Da'ana family. Erected in 2004 the fence cut the Da'anas' land in two resulting in the loss of 200 olive trees. The father then informed us of recent developments in which settler boys had erected an orange flag with the Star of David overlooking his house. The purpose of the flag is clear as it is located on what used to be Da'ana family land but which now is located on the settler side of the fence. That young boys are engaging in this type of activity does not bode well for the future.

The economic effects of cutting his lands in half is such that he loses 50-60,000 NIS per year in loss of earnings. Psychologically speaking it has and continues to be extremely damaging on his heart when he sees settlers picking and eating his olives. This is very difficult for him to handle. We ask him how he manages to deal with the anger of what is happening to him and his family. The father is at a loss, and while it makes him feel crazy he doesn't do anything because he can't. What he does do is file police report after police report. The father took out his copies of police reports which astonished us. It is a remarkable testament to his resilience that he continues to abide by the laws and file police reports instead of reacting in an aggressive manner. He files police reports after police reports fully in the knowledge that it is merely paper work and that nothing will be done.

The team was deeply moved by the Da'ana families' experience of living beside the settlement. While we all have had experience of what the Wall looked like, with the Da'ana family we saw another side to the concept of the Wall. In this all it takes is for a simple fence, erected in 2004 for "security" concerns in order to cut the Da'ana family's income in half. The fence accounts to nothing else than a land grab and that the family has to watch the settlers harvest their olive trees and eat their fruit must be so hard to bear.