|
About half an hour's drive from the pubs and cafes of Tel-Aviv lie a cluster of Palestinian villages that were there long before Tel-Aviv was even a dream. These villages, conquered by the Israeli army in 1967, like most rural areas of the West Bank, have been living under military occupation ever since. Israeli's military rule over the area did not cease following the signing of the Oslo agreements. On the contrary; the pace of land confiscation has increased and mass construction of a matrix of bypass roads and settlements has intensified. This mass construction is still going on today. The area is rich in water, and these supplies are taken by the Israeli company "Mekorot" and used by Israel and its settlers; some of it is even sold back to the Palestinian authority. Israel intends to annex these water sources, like much of the area's land - whether in the context of an Israeli-Palestinian agreement, or that of Israeli unilateral separation. The village and its 3,500 residents have found themselves between the settlements of Ariel and Revava, right on the trans-Sameria highway. A road constructed to connect the settlements, which is strictly off limits for Palestinians. Under the Oslo agreements, Hares has been designated as area "b" inside the village, and area "c" on the outside. This, in effect, means that it is under total Israeli Army control. In stark contrast to the cars zipping past the village on the bypass roads, the main entrance to the village is sealed with cement blocks, placed by courtesy of the Israeli army, and the Palestinian roads are closed off as part of the inner siege practiced by Israel. Since the beginning of this Intifada traveling to Salfit (the central village in the area), previously a five-minute drive from Hares, now takes forty minutes, negotiating dirt paths and olive orchards to gain access around the blocked roads.
|
Dec 04, 2001 Armed Settlers Threaten Villagers Armed Settlers are preventing villagers from Hares from the Daud family to approach their land near the settlement of Ravava, as bulldozers flatten it. For more information, call Ayman Daud 052-931030
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hares Background
|
|