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7 Ramallah- In a simple gathering, to the north of the city of Jericho, east of the West Bank, the Palestinian Ayed Al -Kaabneh lives with about a thousand others, all of whom take the raising of sheep as a source of livelihood, relying on the pastures in the Al -Aghwar region.
But in conjunction with the start of the genocide in October 2023, the suffering of the population has exacerbated until it reached its climax in recent days, by depriving them of the waters of the Auja River, a locally known river and is a tourist destination for the Palestinians, and an essential source of water for the gathering.
The new, according to Al -Kaabneh – in his interview with Al -Jazeera Net – that the settlers had dried the Al -Auja River channel with the craft of its natural path to move away from the Palestinian gatherings to the empty valleys and the nearby settlements, and they also dried 3 Palestinian artesian wells.
Water warfare
The water war is a jury for about 130 families in the gathering and its estimated sheep of about 5,000, after the settlers seized about two thousand of them.
The Palestinian citizen adds, “The water is a basic need, we are now without water, we held meetings with the official Palestinian authorities and relief societies to no avail.
Al -Kaabneh explains that the water war was the last episode of a series of attacks, as it was preceded by theft of sheep and the arrest of the residents and attacking them and assaulting them by “that the Palestinian defend himself, his children, his home and his sheep charges, for which at least 15 people were arrested, and in return, the settler is safe and in the protection of the police and army of the occupation.”
In light of this circumstance, the intuitive question arises: What compels these people to stay? “This is our land, I was born and lived in it, and I have no, and I do not accept any alternative to it. I know every meter in its mountains, its plains, and its pastures, my grandparents here before the occupation.”
“Immigration and departure are not our choice, and the largest lesson is in the Nakba refugees who have been waiting for return, 77 years ago, in vain.”
Will
By moving to the southern West Bank, the Palestinian gatherings are not better in terms of prosecution, attack and attempts to displacement, and the will remains a weapon to overcome the occupation machine and the oppression of its settlers.
The repeated settlers’ attacks forced the residents of the Zenota gathering, east of the town of Al -Dhahirah, such as storming the gathering, hitting those in it, sabotaging the property of the estimated population of about 250, to leave, in late October 2023, and in their absence the settlers destroyed their property, caves and a small school that serves them.
But these people did not surrender, and they struggled in the occupation courts and with the help of human rights organizations until they obtained a judicial decision that brings them back to their homes while obliging the occupation army to protect them and allow them to restore what was destroyed.
According to the head of the local gathering council, Fayez Al -Tal, most of the population packed their bags and returned despite the potential risks, which were already renewed a few days ago by storming the settlers of the school and destroying them again.
Al -Tal says – in his interview with Al -Jazeera Net – that he was able to prepare the school restoration requirements, and is working with a number of volunteers to rehabilitate them to receive students.
On the reasons for accepting people to return despite the dangers, it indicates that the gathering for its inhabitants is “part of the soul, and therefore they have a solid will to survive, even if they remain alone in the entire West Bank.”
He continued, “We are the right -holders, the displacement is a greater calamity than the price paid for staying, despite the suffering here. The families feel stable in their homes even if they are caves, and maintains their lifestyle inherited from the ancestors and runs the affairs of their life, her sheep and their pastures according to their capabilities.”
He continued: You can imagine the departure of these families to find themselves suddenly without shelter and without possibilities and without sheep, and even looking for a land or house for housing, and waiting for the association’s donations, it is calamity in every sense of the word, and psychological and economic pressure that we cannot tolerate, we die here and we do not leave immigrants.
Learn the lesson
By reviewing the tales of Al -Auja and Z and Z and Zouda, it is clear how much the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank have learned – and if it was a high price – lessons from the events of the catastrophe in 1948, which today, Thursday, its 77th anniversary, the most important of which was the refusal of displacement.
Returning to the events of the Nakba, 48 Palestinians were subjected to more than 70 massacres, and about 15,000 were martyred by the Zionist gangs, and 531 villages were destroyed out of nearly 1300 villages completely destroyed, while about 947,000 were deserted out of the total population at that time of one million and 400 thousand people.
Given the price that the Palestinians paid in the Nakba and later in the 1948 setback, and the tragic alternatives to the refugees, the decision to withstand and reject the plans to displace the residents of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank gatherings in the classified area “C” which the occupation is seeking to include.
The Oslo 2 agreement in 1995 divided the West Bank lands to “A” and constitutes 21% and is fully under Palestinian control, “B” and constitutes 18% and is under Palestinian civil and security control, and the remaining percentage “C” is under Israeli control.
On the fierce and silent battle in dozens of population gatherings in the “C” region of the West Bank, which is subject to the full Israeli occupation, the Bedouin Rights Organization indicates thousands of violations against Bedouin communities in the West Bank.
Bedouins alone
“Citizens in the Bedouin communities resist the policies of displacement with patience, steadfastness and seasonal facilitation, which does not rise to the level of the battle that takes place in the region” C “, a battle related to demography in addition to geography,” the general supervisor of the organization, Hassan Malihat, told Al -Jazeera Net.
In numbers, he says that the year 2024 witnessed 3 thousand violations against the Bedouin gatherings of 212, and since the beginning of this year the number reached 1600 violations, indicating that 62 gatherings were forced to leave after 7 Acto R.
The supervisor of the Al -Baydar Association adds that “all these violations and burning policies of ethnic cleansing are resistant to the population with patience and more patience, especially in light of their targeting in their bodies, livestock and property despite all resources, support and indifference to them in this existential battle.”
He explains that the targeted gatherings are spread “in the Jordan Valley area, such as the Al -Auja Waterfall and Arab Al -Malihat, in the Al -Maarjat area in the vicinity of the city of Jericho, a traveler of Yatta in the south of the West Bank, and the northern Jordan Valley areas.”
He continued, “The Bedouins are the natural guards of the land, and their gatherings are still subjected to a continuous catastrophe and their chapters live with radiance every day, in an attempt to uproot them and eradicate them and to replace the settlers in their place, but they are armed with patience and will to stay.”