Demolitions

Makhool is situated just higher in the Valley than Al Hadidiya and like them their land is also surrounded by Israeli Military bases and very close to this small community is a training ground and firing range. The road, just 100m away from the homes, is Israeli controlled and busy with settler and military traffic. As a community who rely on grazing sheep, they face many problems from Israeli’s if their sheep wander onto the nearby road. ‘It causes us problems’, said Josef, who explained ‘if they are on the road, they are taken’.

On Thursday 23rd of October we travelled to Nablus to meet a prisoner Said Lataba who had spent 31 years in prison, the longest time any Palestinian had spent imprisoned to date. He was released just last month at the beginning of his 32nd year in prison. He welcomed us into his home as he prepared for his wedding celebrations to take place the following day. He told us that his wife to be is also an ex prisoner.

Our first night was spent in Al Jiftlik, a village with the surreal scenario of being half area B and half area C, meaning half gets electricity and building rights while the other half lives in the 9th Century. (We ate in area B and slept in area C, at least Palestinians still have permission for this.) This is the village reported by previous delegations as having a tent school due to Israel’s refusal to allow the Palestinians to educate themselves.