Jerusalem24 – Communities in the Jordan Valley face constant expulsions; living a constant Nakba.
The Palestinian population of the Jordan Valley prior to the Israeli occupation in 1967 was estimated at 250,000 people. By 2017, that number was 53,562, according to research by Al-Haq.
The Jordan Valley comprises over a fifth of the territory of the West Bank and contains vital land reserves. It has abundant water resources – including one-third of the underground water reserves in the West Bank – and has vast potential for agricultural, industrial, and tourism industries.
In addition to land confiscation, the Israeli authorities have imposed severe building restrictions on Palestinians living in the Jordan Valley and have carried out extensive demolitions of Palestinian structures in the area. While demolitions and evictions are a long-standing part of Israel’s ongoing practice of forcibly transferring the Palestinian population, over the past few years there has been a significant increase in demolitions in the Jordan Valley.
Rashied Khoudairy, an activist with the Jordan Valley Solidarity campaign, a network of Palestinian grassroots community groups from all over the Jordan Valley and international supporters that work to highlight the difficult conditions the communities face, says that settlers are a prominent tool of the Israeli occupation, given the green light by the Israeli occupation to destroy agricultural facilities and make life unbearable for Palestinians.
“We’re in 2022, till now thousands of Palestinians live in small communities and villages in area C, not allowed to have drinkable water,” said Khoudairy. “This is the apartheid system Israel is imposing on Palestinians.”
Listen to today’s episode of Vibes for more details.
https://soundcloud.com/24fmpalestine/vibes-rasheed
