WEST BANK: Palestinian residents of West Bank village find themselves cut off from rest of their village by a Jewish settlement, which has expanded around their houses

Record ID: 561534

  • Title: WEST BANK: Palestinian residents of West Bank village find themselves cut off from rest of their village by a Jewish settlement, which has expanded around their houses
  • Date: 22nd June 2011
  • Summary: GIV'AT ZE'EV SETTLEMENT, WEST BANK (RECENT) (REUTERS) VIEW OF NEARBY SETTLEMENT OF HADASHA RESIDENT OF AL-KHALAILEH NEIGHBOURHOOD, HATEM SIOURI, WORKING IN HIS LAND / ISRAELI SETTLEMENT OF HADASHA IN BACKGROUND MORE OF SIOURI WORKING IN LAND (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) RESIDENT OF AL-KHALAILEH QUARTER, HATEM SIOURI, SAYING "We have been isolated, first from the West Bank and also from Jerusalem -- we are deprived of both. Say I want to go to the petrol station, just thinking about the journey tires me out. From here I need to walk about two kilometres, so half-an-hour's walk to reach the gate and to get back you need another 30 minutes so I tell myself, God forbid anyone has to make that journey." SIOURI'S HANDS WHILE WORKING IN HIS LAND SIOURI WORKING IN LAND / GIV'AT ZE'EV SETTLEMENT IN BACKGROUND VARIOUS OF PALESTINIAN HOMES IN AL-KHALAILEH NEIGHBOURHOOD/ GIV'AT ZE'EV SETTLEMENT IN BACKGROUND HEAD OF AL-KHALAILEH QUARTER COMMITTEE, ISMAIL ABU RABAH, SPEAKING WITH RESIDENT (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) HEAD OF AL-KHALAILEH QUARTER COMMITTEE ISMAIL ABU RABAH, SAYING "Al-Khalaileh Quarter was originally part of the Jeeb Village, but after the construction of the barrier and because of all the settlements, we have been cut-off for the past four years. In the last two years, since the barrier construction has been completed, all of al-Khalaileh Quarter's residents have been completely isolated. Residents of the neighbourhood are either from the Jeep Village or they are refugees." ROAD IN AL-KHALAILEH QUARTER CARS IN NEIGHBOURHOOD MERCEDES CAR WITH PALESTINIAN NUMBER PLATES AND GMC VEHICLE WITH ISRAELI NUMBER PLATE MERCEDES CAR WITH PALESTINIAN NUMBER PLATE GMC VEHICLE WITH ISRAELI NUMBER PLATE BUS OF JEWISH SETTLERS STOPPING NEAR PALESTINIAN SHEPHERDS CHILDREN OF JEWISH SETTLERS RIDING DONKEYS OWNED BY PALESTINIAN SHEPHERDS PALESTINIAN HOUSE IN JEWISH SETTLEMENT OF GIV'AT ZE'EV GIV'AT ZE'EV SETTLEMENT EXTERIOR OF PLANT NURSERY VARIOUS OF OWNER OF PLANT NURSERY, MUHAMMAD ABU KHALAF FLOWER (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) OWNER OF PLANT NURSERY, MUHAMMAD ABU KHALAF, SAYING "Transporting the plants is very difficult. For example, we bring the pots from Hebron, meanwhile we have to co-ordinate with passage authorities here, and in some cases they say, it's illegal to bring the plants through, in other cases they allow them through. In other instances they hold them for one month. The same goes for the seedlings, which we bring from Qalqilya. Sometimes it takes a week to bring them in but in other cases they tell us the Ministry of Agriculture does not allow for it, despite us having a permit from the Palestinian Ministry of Agriculture proving my line of work." MORE OF ABU KHALAF VARIOUS OF PALESTINIAN HOUSE INSIDE GIV'AT ZE'EV SETTLEMENT / GIV'ON HAHADASHA SETTLEMENT IN BACKGROUND SIGN WRITTEN IN HEBREW, ARABIC AND ENGLISH, READING: "GIV'ON HAHADASHA" PALESTINIAN HOME IN SETTLEMENT VARIOUS OF ONLY PASSAGE TERMINAL BETWEEN AL-KHALAILEH NEIGHBOURHOOD AND WEST BANK AERIAL VIEW OF PASSAGE SEPARATING AL-KHALAILEH NEIGHBOURHOOD FROM JEEB VILLAGE JEEB VILLAGE AS VIEWED FROM AL-KHALAILEH QUARTER MORE OF AL-KHALAILEH QUARTER AND JEEB VILLAGE WITH BARRIER IN BETWEEN
  • Embargoed: 7th July 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: West bank, West bank
  • City:
  • Country: Palestinian Territories
  • Topics: International Relations,Politics,People
  • Reuters ID: LVAAP43627XY82DZCY6RZ0ZB9D4R
  • Story Text: For Palestinian Hatem Siouri home is not as sweet as it is for many others.
    He lives in the al-Khalaileh neighbourhood of the Palestinian West Bank village of Jeeb. However, he and others in the neighbourhood have found themselves in recent years surrounded on all sides by the expansion of the Jewish settlement Givat Ze'ev, which has come between them and the main part of their village.
    Most recently, the neighbourhood has also been cut off from the rest of the West Bank by Israel's newly constructed separation barrier. A section of the barrier separates Givat Ze'ev from Jeeb, putting the settlement on the Israeli side and the village on the Palestinian side.
    Siouri is now completely cut-off from what, in happier days, were familiar surroundings. He says it is now extremely difficult and time consuming to get to his original village of Jeeb and to the wider West Bank. And because he has a Palestinian West Bank ID card, he cannot move freely within Israel or reach nearby Jerusalem because of Israeli restrictions on Palestinian movement.
    "We have been isolated, first from the West Bank and also from Jerusalem -- we are deprived of both," said the farmer.
    He is among 25 Palestinian families living in the al-Khalaileh neighbourhood. An Israeli military checkpoint set within the separation barrier connects him to the West Bank.
    "Say I want to go to the petrol station, just thinking about the journey tires me out. From here I need to walk about two kilometres, so half-an-hour's walk to reach the gate and to get back you need another 30 minutes so I tell myself, God forbid anyone has to make that journey," Siouri added.
    Israel says the barrier, a mix of electronic fences and walls that encroach on West Bank territory, is meant to keep suicide bombers out of its cities.
    But Palestinians call the barrier a disguised move to annex or fragment territory Palestinians seek for a viable state. the International court of Justice has declared the planned 600-km (370-mile) barrier illegal, but Israel has ignored the non-binding ruling. More than half the barrier has been completed.
    The barrier's course encompasses Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Although Givat Ze'ev lies on the Israeli side of the barrier, international law still considers it an illegal settlement on occupied West Bank land.
    Palestinian residents living near or around the barrier say the structure has changed their lives. The landscape they were once familiar with has changed and many have been cut-off from their families, neighbours, schools and agricultural land.
    "Al-Khalaileh Quarter was originally part of the Jeeb Village, but after the construction of the barrier and because of all the settlements, we have been cut-off for the past four years," said Ismail Abu Rabah, a committee member in al-Khalaileh neighbourhood.
    "In the last two years, since the barrier construction has been completed, all of al-Khalaileh neighbourhood's residents have been completely isolated. Residents of the neighbourhood are either from the Jeeb Village or they are refugees," Abu Rabah added.
    Al-Khalaileh neighbourhood houses once stood a short distance from the main section of Jeeb. The Givat Ze'ev settlement has expanded to Many Jeeb and al-Khalaileh residents feel their situation is doubly unfair because Israeli authorities have confiscated some of their land to build the settlement, barrier and roads.
    Muhammad Abu Khalaf runs a plant nursery in the al-Khalaileh neighbourhood of Jeeb. He has been hard hit by Israeli restrictions on Palestinian movement. He buys his plants from various locations in the West Bank but finds difficulty in getting them to his nursery.
    "Transporting the plants is very difficult. For example, we bring the pots from Hebron, and we have to co-ordinate with passage authorities here, and in some cases they say, it's illegal to bring the plants through, in other cases they allow them through. In other instances they hold them for one month. The same goes for the seedlings, which we bring from Qalqilya. Sometimes it takes a week to bring them in but in other cases they tell us the Ministry of Agriculture does not allow it, despite us having a permit from the Palestinian Ministry of Agriculture proving my line of work," Abu Khalaf said.
    Giv'at Ze'ev is located off the northern outskirts of Jerusalem. Built on 1967 land, it is located south of Israel's highway that cuts into the West bank to connect Tel Aviv with Jerusalem.
    The settlement is home to 12,000 Jewish settlers and 650 Palestinians who live in al-Khalaileh Quarter
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