Trouble for Jayyous

Less than a week after an Occupation High Court decision to change the route of the Apartheid Wall in Jayyous, Occupation forces began destroying farmland in the south of the village to
make room for the construction of the Wall. They are currently in the process of cutting down some 200 olive trees that have already been marked for uprooting.

With this action, the Occupation forces for the first time are implementing one of the High Court decisions to re-route the Wall. These re-routing decisions began in 2004 as a means to undermine the International Court of Justice ruling to tear it down.

The new path of the Wall in Jayyous, a small village of some 4300 inhabitants, located north of Qalqiliya: The current uprooting lies on the 277 dunums of land that will be razed for the new path of the Wall, in addition to the 5,585 dunums that will be permanently confiscated when it is completed. The new route of the Wall north of Jayyous replaces a 2.4 km stretch with a 4.9 km stretch that is 2 km closer to the Green Line The new path still encroaches 4 km inside the West Bank.  In addition to the 6,000 that have already been uprooted, hundreds of other trees are slated for uprooting.The new path does not allow for access gates, meaning farmers will be completely cut off from their lands.   The settlement of Zufim is slated to swallow much of the annexed land.The construction of infrastructure for the new part of the settlement called "North Zufim" has already begun. Construction of an electricity network has started and the creation of housing units is imminent.                             

As a result of this land grab, the 85% of the people of Jayyous who made their living as farmers have largely been made unemployed, and most of those who were still able to maintain their livelihoods will now join the jobless ranks.

Jayyous was the first village that mounted regular, large-scale protests against the construction of the Wall when it was first being built, and eventually, these protests spread to villages such as Ni’lin, Bil’in, and al Masra. Jamal Juma’ coordinator of the Stop the Wall Campaign states:
“The latest events in Jayyous underline once again the call of the Stop the Wall Campaign and its popular committees that the only effective form of change would be to tear down the wall completely, not to modify its path.” 

The court decision does nothing to reverse the damage that has been done to the Jayyous nor does it render the Wall less illegal. Indeed, the only effective form of change would be to tear down the wall completely, not to change its path. For further information or to arrange for field visits and interviews, please contact Stop the Wall on +972-2-2971505 or our coordinator on the ground Mohammad Othman at: +972-599649815.

Tel: +972-2-2971505
Fax: +972-2-2975123
global@stopthewall.org