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Case Studies Rafat, Jerusalem
The latest confiscation facing the village of Rafat is taking place for the construction of the Apartheid Wall, where 750 dunums have already been confiscated, 600 dunums of which has been de facto annexed and isolated from their owners. Rafat is one of a number of villages being severely affected by the construction of the northern portion of the Jerusalem Wall, which extends the length of some 7 kilometers from Rafat to Jaba’ The village of Rafat is located on the northern edge of Jerusalem, approximately 2 km southwest of Ramallah city and is considered the natural border between Ramallah and Jerusalem. More than 2,000 people live in Rafat. The first sign of the Wall in Rafat was in April 2002 with the digging of a ditch from Ofer Camp towards the village of Jaba’, east of Rafat. On August 15, 2002, an Israeli military order was issued calling for the construction of a so-called “security barrier” north of Jerusalem, using as pretense the Israeli emergency martial law of 1949, based on the all purpose “Israeli security,” ensuring that no possibility for objection on the part of Palestinians would be accepted by the courts, or even the Israeli public. The actual construction of the Wall in Rafat began on August 22, 2002. Since then, the community has lost some 750 dunums, while the majority of the trees on those lands, about 640 centuries-old olive trees, were uprooted during the Wall’s construction. As of April 2003, much of the razing for the Wall’s path is complete, and layers of fences with their buffers are up. About 2 km of the fence with its four components (road, electronic fence, buffer zone and “normal” fence) have been completed, starting from the Ofer Military Camp. The fence is 3 meters high, where video cameras will soon be placed to observe the area. The layers of fences, buffer zones and roads creep-up close to the village, in a number of instances in the backyard of residents’ homes. (See picture) Additional work around the buffer zones, and expected demolitions, has yet to take place. One house has already been demolished in Rafat for the Wall, with three more homes, all within the Wall’s 20-100 meter buffer zone, expected to be demolished. The economic impact due to the loss of agricultural land has severely worsened the already bad economic state in the community which, like the rest of the Occupied Territories, has been subjected to closures and siege.Since the start of the Intifada, an aggressive policy of confiscation of Rafat’s lands has been taking place, including 1,000 dunums located near the Ofer Military Camp which have been declared a closed military area. Such confiscation of Rafat lands is part of a chain that began in 1967. The original area of Rafat totaled some 4,583 dunums, owned by different residents of the village, while the built-up (residential) area has been over 329 dunums. During the 1967 Occupation, more than 800 dunums of Rafat’s lands were confiscated for the establishment of the Ofer Military Camp, located at the western portion of Rafat. In 1994, 300 additional dunums, planted with olive trees, were confiscated for the construction of a bypass road which extends the length between Ramallah and Rafat. In 1996, for the construction of another bypass road linking the settlements of Givat Ze’ev with Atarot and extending to Jerusalem Road 60, additional lands were confiscated. Rafat is an integral part of Jerusalem, and with the construction of the Wall, is being forcefully separated from the city. The village is surrounded: from the west by Ofer Military Camp (which has now become a notorious prison/detention center holding over a thousand Palestinian political prisoners), from the north and west by the Wall and from the northwest by a bypass road. The only way out of the village is through the main road to Ramallah, northeast of Rafat. A local committee to defend the community’s families was formed, and which hired a lawyer to represent them in the Israeli/Occupation courts. They were unable to prevent the Wall from being built on their lands or having their lands confiscated. Life without mobility, employment, land, and constant military presence and surveillance means that life around the Wall is entering a new stage of agony. Mohammad Mustafa, 20 years of age, and his 10-member family live in one of the three homes in Rafat which is threatened for demolition. While the home is the nearest one in the village to the Wall itself, the family has had 40 of its dunums confiscated for the construction of the Wall. Their home is about 20 meters from the Wall, which is located inside their garden. Their chicken farm, the main source of income for the family and which cost a life time savings of 40 thousand Israeli shekels ($US 9,000), was destroyed by the military for the Wall’s construction. Mohammad added that the military commander in their area informed them directly that if any form of demonstration or any kind of violence comes from their “area”, the family home will be demolished without any notice. The family is taking such threats seriously and knows that any form of disturbance from anywhere in their vicinity will render their home under threat. During the Wall’s construction, the family had been subjected to repeated house inspections and tear gassing. Aida Refugee Camp, Bethlehem
Aida Refugee Camp, with a population of 4,300, is situated in northern Bethlehem near Rachel’s Tomb. Though the extent to which the Wall and its accompanying bypass road will encircle the camp is not entirely known, part of the path is known, as is the fact that the Wall in this area will be an 8-10 meter-high monstrosity that will further entrap the refugee community. Aida, with an area of 600 square meters, suffers from severe overcrowding and hardship. Unemployment is currently at 85% due to the consistent sieges, military attacks, closure and curfew of the past 2˝ years. There have been 12 martyrs (ages 14-42) while 50 have been seriously injured (paralysis/handicap). The camp has faced 200 days of curfews in the past 2˝ years. Door-to-door searches by the military are commonplace, one just having taken place on April 27, 2003. The nearby settlement Gilo is the base from where the military has attacked the camp several times with missiles. Five houses have been totally destroyed and more than 120 partially. Aida is located 60 meters away from Rachel’s Tomb which has been turned into a fortified military base, with watchtower and sniper that overlook, among other areas, Aida Camp. From Aida, the tower can be seen from a distance, and the snipers pointing gun can be felt. The Tomb and its military have become regular scenes where stone throwing children are met with live bullets; in mid-April, 15 year old Tareq Abu Jado was shot dead by the military from the Rachel’s Tomb base. According to the residents of the camp, a fence first appeared near the camp in April 2002 during a large-scale military incursion into Bethlehem. The fence, located at the northern and southern sides of the camp, further isolated Bethlehem from Jerusalem, making entering the city from this point more difficult. In February 2003, the military handed out orders to seize lands around Rachel’s Tomb in order to construct the Wall, located just 3 meters from buildings in the camp. The orders clarified, along with a map of the area to be confiscated and annexed by the military, that three houses from Aida camp will be annexed behind the Wall in the new isolated zone. The Wall is just meters away from homes, totally suffocating their residents, while instilling additional fear that an eventual buffer zone may call for the demolition of these homes. A continuation of the bypass road is expected to be parallel to the Wall around the camp. The fence that was constructed in 2002, adjacent to the camp, was a site for regular clashes with the camp children. With the construction of the Wall, a large portion of the camp will be encircled by military watch points. UNRWA is the only service provider in the camp, including the distribution of food and the running of the school. The school is now riddled with bullet holes from being one of the first buildings attacked by shelling from Gilo at the start of the Intifada. Due to shelling and curfews, some 4 months of schooling have been lost in the past two and a half years. The camp’s refugees were expelled in 1948 from their homes and villages, most of which are from the Jerusalem District, such as the destroyed villages of Deir Natteef, Ras Abu Ammar, and Deryan. Aida is one of three refugee camps in Bethlehem, while another camp, Beit Jibrin, will also be situated near the Wall just across from Rachel’s Tomb.
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