WEST BANK: Last Palestinian family living within borders of the Israeli security barrier which separates the Giv'on Hadasha Jewish settlement from the Palestinian village of Beit Ijza, is Sabri Ghoraeb's family

Record ID: 560985

  • Title: WEST BANK: Last Palestinian family living within borders of the Israeli security barrier which separates the Giv'on Hadasha Jewish settlement from the Palestinian village of Beit Ijza, is Sabri Ghoraeb's family
  • Date: 20th February 2007
  • Summary: MUHAMMAD GHORAEB WALKING ON BRIDGE WHICH LEADS TO THEIR HOUSE CLOSE OF HOUSE SURROUNDED BY FENCE
  • Embargoed: 7th March 2007 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA7NHTGNTNP18ORZY7SM6M0C74X
  • Story Text: The last Palestinian family living within the borders of the Israeli security barrier, which separates the Giv'on Hadasha Jewish settlement from the Palestinian village of Beit Ijza, is Sabri Ghoraeb's family.
    Sabri Ghoraeb, and his wife and son, have been living in a 160km quadrate since 1978, surrounded with fence that will soon be electrified after the barrier is completely finished.
    The fence separates them from the other houses in the Jewish settlement and is connected to the village only by a narrow bridge.
    "That house down there was built before 1950, directly after '48 (the creation of Israel). This one (SABRI GHORAEB'S HOUSE) was built in 1978. As you see, since '78 we have been trying (to survive), until today in 2007," the 67-year-old told Reuters Television.
    Dozens of Giv'on Hadasha settlers have built their houses on 40 donums (9.9 acres) of Ghoraeb's land around his house.
    It is now a mini-enclave linked by a bridge to its original village.
    Ghoraeb said: "In 1979 they put up the fence surrounding the house and around the land. They annexed 40 donums of land and built 360 houses on it. And they tore apart the streets."
    The Giv'on Hadasha settlement, which was completed in 1985, is built on lands previously owned by the Beit Ijza village, northwest of Jerusalem.
    The settlement, along with the Giv'on and Givat Ze'ev settlements, constitute a settlement block and obstruct any territorial contiguity between the Palestinian villages located northwest of the main city of Jerusalem.
    Sabri Ghoraeb has 11 sons and daughters. One of them was shot dead by a Jewish settler in 1988 during the first Palestinian uprising.
    Ghoraeb claims that the Jewish settlers still throw stones and attack his grandchildren, even after his house had been separated from the settlement.
    "They throw stones and then they claim that we threw stones. They provoke us so that we will leave. Because if you want to stay (and resist their harassment) the message is 'get out' and 'don't stay'. No, I will not leave. I promised God that I will never leave this house until I die. That's it," he says defiantly.
    Israeli security forces have built Ghoraeb a wooden bridge that connects his house with the village and which aids them in the construction of the barrier.
    Most of Beit Ijza's residents depend on cultivation as their main source of income. The village is rich with vine, almond and olive trees. The village has an area of 2,530 donums (625 acres) and a total population of 671 inhabitants.
    Ghoraeb said that barrier security guards told him that a narrow pedestrian gate that can only be accessed by foot will be opened which will connect him to the village.
    The grandfather of 35 however describes his house following the completion of the Israeli barrier as an open air jail.
    "I live on this earth and the sky is my only cover. That's how I consider my situation. But what shall I do? That's God's will so we must cope with it," he said.
    Yet the Ghoraebs have resisted for 29 years.
    The route that the Israeli wall follows will separate many Palestinians' homes from their lands.
    Israel has said the barrier, a mix of electronic fences and walls that encroaches on West Bank territory, is meant to keep suicide bombers out of its cities.
    Palestinians call the barrier -- whose course encompasses Israeli settlements in the West Bank -- a disguised move to annex or fragment territory Palestinians seek for a viable state.
    The World Court declared the planned 600km (370-mile) barrier, more than half of which is completed, illegal two years ago but Israel has ignored the non-binding ruling.
    According to the Fourth Geneva Convention and UN Security Council resolution 465 relating to settlements in the Arab territories occupied since 1967, including Jerusalem, the Israeli government continues to follow a policy that aims at seizing more Palestinian land and violating its obligations.
    The resolution determines that all the measures taken by Israel to change the physical character, demographic composition, institutional structure or status of the Palestinian and other Arab territories occupied since 1967, including Jerusalem, is internationally illegal.
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