Security fence
צילום: עטא עוויסאת
Palestinian farmers blocked from land
Due to recent terror alerts, soldiers prevent Palestinian farmers cut off from their farms by separation fence from reaching their fields, confiscate their permits. 'We are in despair, this is not life,' Palestinian farmer says
Palestinian farmers claimed Sunday that IDF soldiers were blocking them from entering their own lands through the gates meant for that purpose in the separation fence, despite their legal authorization to do so. Witnesses told Ynet that in the past few weeks the army has confiscated dozens of entry permits from Palestinian farmers cut off from their land by the fence, who passed regularly through three gates to reach their fields.
The IDF responded that the increased security was due to the steep rise in terror warnings lately. “The warnings are coming from that area, and from all of the West Bank. Due to the warnings, the IDF is taking various steps, among them closing the crossings at the location in question,” an army statement said.
Most of the Palestinian farmers refused to speak to the media out of concern that their entry permits wouldn’t be returned to them. One of them, Ibrahim, said he tried to reach his farm on the other side of the fence through the gate by Faron village, south of Tul Karm. However, the gate has been closed for the past few days, he testified, and therefore he and other farmers tried to cross through two other gates. When they arrived at those crossings, Ibrahim related, soldiers there rebuked them and confiscated their permits.
“For a few days now they won’t let us get to our land. Even when we manage to get in, they only let us stay for six hours, which isn’t always enough for all the farmers,” Ibrahim said. “If they do let us in, it’s never until after 8 a.m. Meanwhile the soldiers disappear then come back at 2 p.m.. We have to work on their time. What if I finish sooner? Do I have to be stuck on the other side of the fence until they get back? And what if I have half hour of work left to do?”
'Soldiers get annoyed'
“The rules are very strict, but we’ve learned to live with that,” he added. “The problem is that lately the army is closing all the gates and not letting us in at all. If someone insists, the soldiers get annoyed and take away his permit.”
Ibrahim said that the farmers went to the Coordination Headquarters to try to get back their permits, but the efforts were fruitless. “We waited for hours and then they told us ‘We haven’t decided what to do with you yet. Come back in a few days.' On Thursday a group of women waited until 11:00 p.m., and in the end they didn’t get their permits back,” Ibrahim said.
“We are in despair,” he said. “This is not life.”
Over the past week the Machsom Watch human rights organization recorded the events in which Palestinians were prevented from entering their lands and had their authorization taken away. They have already filed a number of complaints with the High Court of Justice regarding the fence route and the prevention of farmers from maintaining their livelihoods.
