Diary Part Two: The Afternoon
13:03 h: The lorry leaves the site with
ten olive trees, passing the family of Jamil Haj Salim (65), who tells the EA in
tears that he has been working here for 35 years.
13:17 h: His wife, Isra Abet Fata (50),
son Arafat (17) and daughter Sabrin (11) are allowed to go up to the grove
to bring back their belongings staying overnight there: one ladder, one
water-canister and a sack with plastic-blankets for the olive picking.
13:23 h: The deprived family offers
clementines and orange-juice to the guard of the quarry company and the EA.
13:33 h: A military jeep arrives on the
scene. Around the same time different type of settlers arrive, as well as
the brother of Jamil Haj Salim, Tawfik Salim. They are the two owners of the
orchard and claim, that their family has ownership for 110 years.
13:44 h: In separate talks with the
settlers and the farmers and after studying the documents of land ownership
presented by both sides, the soldiers decide that the uprooting had to be
stopped until a new decision based on further interrogation will be found
by the army on Sunday. They tell the EA that the two bulldozers working
nearby on the new settlement had to stop as well. Nevertheless they continue
paving the area.
14:02 h: Accompanied by the EA and an
Israeli soldier Tawfik Salim is then allowed to see what happened to his
olive grove. He breaks into desperate cries, spontaneausly and symbolically
attacking the settlers, breaking down into the arms of the EA, who tries to
help him. The excavator stops his work and leaves the compound as all other
persons are forced to by the soldiers.
14:31 h: The EA returns to the olive
grove to count all uprooted trees. He counts 117, including the ten trees
already transported away by the lorry. Apparently one third of the olive
grove has been destroyed.
14:58 h: Desparate farmer family of
Jamil Haj Salim is waiting at the fence. The EA asks a passing military jeep
to open the gate for them because of humanitarian reasons. The soldiers
argue, that the electricity of the fence is switched on and off centrally
and therefore all fence openings must be synchronized. However they contact
higher army ranks, who decide that the farmer’s family has to wait until
regular opening begins at 15:45 h.
15:50 h: h: The police arrives for the
15:45 h opening, however, since they have no key, all farmers have to wait
until a military jeeps arrives at 15:58 h and the gate is finally opened at
16:03 h.
Complete Diary This is the private homepage
of
Disclaimer: I have been
active from Dec. 2004 to Feb. 2005 for Evangelisches Missionswerk in
Südwestdeutschland (EMS) as an Ecumenical Accompanier serving on the World Council of Churches' (WCC) Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine
and Israel (EAPPI). The views contained herein are personal and do not
necessarily reflect those of my employer EMS or the WCC. If you would like publish the
information contained here or disseminate further, please first contact the
EAPPI Communications Officer and Managing Director (eappi-co@jrol.com) for permission. Thank
you.
Thursday, Dec. 9, 2004
Uprooting of 117 Olive Trees
as witnessed by Ecumenical Accompanier
Christoph Gocke
For full
resolution of photos mail to me.
All photos are free of charge for further publication.
Please, credit them to "Christoph Gocke (EAPPI)".
Deutsche Fassung
dieser Seite
Follow Up of the Diary
Sunday/Monday, Dec. 12/13, 2004
A New Landsurvey
Uprooting of Olive Trees in Jayyous
