66. Photo Essay - Uprooting of Trees in Jayyous continues

Uprooting of Trees in Jayyous continues

The village of Jayyous, located in the northern West Bank near Qalqiliya, has received more attention over the last two years than its size, approximately 3-4,000 inhabitants, would seem to warrant. Probably more attention than the people of the village likely would want – or at least for the reasons the attention is being received. Nearly two years ago Israel began constructing its “Separation Wall,” in these environs a fence, right through the economic heart of the village of Jayyous. Most of the village’s farmland was separated from the village itself by the barrier, which is located nearly seven kilometers inside the “Green Line,” the internationally-recognized boundary between Israel and the West Bank. Israeli authorities insisted that the land still belonged to the farmers of Jayyous, although they now needed permission to access their own property. Access has been limited to two points through gates in the fence and only three times a day. Access could be denied on a whim and permits were not given to all the farmers of Jayyous. As bad as this situation seems, the people of Jayyous feared even worse conditions. In December 2004, the farmers of Jayyous began to have their worst fears realized. Workers began uprooting olive trees on the western side of the fence, apparently to extend the nearby illegal Israeli settlement of Zufim. Jayyous farmer Tawfik Salim is the owner of the grove in question, but settlers from Zufim claim to have brought it from him in 1986. The Israeli authorities have ordered Salim to pay for a new survey and also to retain the services of a lawyer in order to prove that he is in fact the owner of the land. Meanwhile, he had been assured that work would not continue while the legal proceedings were ongoing. This promise was quickly broken as in late December, work continued and more trees were uprooted. Neither the military nor the civil authorities did anything to stop this. All of this is a clear violation of international law as well as the Road Map for peace put forth by the Quartet: The European Union, Russia the United Nations, and the United States.

The following photos deal with the continued uprooting of trees December 19th and 20th, 2004 and the carrying away of the same trees to be sold (with no compensation given to the owner) December 29th, 2004.