M’rayr, Majdal Bani Fad

09:45  We left from the Rosh Ha’ayin train station.

10:00  Ariel junction.  An antenna lies by the roadside.  When we passed on our way back work was in full swing.  A huge crane had been brought and it appeared that soon an additional antenna will join its many West Bank colleagues.

10:30  On the way to M’rayr.  Two male and one female soldier wander through the field beside the road.  When we turn off to the village the paved road becomes a dusty track.  (Here too, like in many other villages, the residents are forbidden to pave the access road

  A group of cheerful children comes running down the hill on the left.  They roll tires down the hillside, holding stones in their hands.  “Why aren’t you in school?” we ask.  “Because it’s Al Aqsa Day, no school,” they reply happily.  We look at their faces:  very young children, cute ten-year-olds, grinning, friendly.  Throwing stones at the road makes them feel grown-up.  They don’t yet know that the government of Israel decided to station snipers to fire and shoot at young children like them.

The municipal building is closed and we go to a structure where sacks of grain are piled.  N., the owner, welcomes us, and five more men quickly gather.  Yes, there was sort of a demonstration at the village entrance in support of Al Aqsa.  Were there speakers?  Was the demonstration photographed?  No.  Cancelling school is the main event announced by the Palestinian Authority for Al Aqsa Day and it apparently isn’t gaining momentum.

N. is a “graduate” of Israeli prisons.  As such, his Hebrew is fluent.  He says he’s 68 years old, and appears much older.  He attributes the villagers’ many hardships to the absence of peace.  Had Abu Mazen and Netanyahu (whose name he translates into Arabic as “God gave,” to the others’ laughter) truly wanted peace, life would be very different.  N. is up-to-date on Israeli politics:  how could Yigal Amir have a wife and child, while a man from the village who’s  been imprisoned for thirty years has to speak to his son through a metal grate and isn’t even allowed to touch his hand?  If the Jews suffered in the holocaust, why are they doing to us what was done to them?”

The occupation regime doesn’t harass only the living, but also the dead.  Last week a villager died of natural causes, unconnected to any security incident.  His large family wanted to bury him in the village cemetery.  Then came the ultimatum:  either invite only a few relatives to the funeral, or bury him at night.  The deceased was buried during the day.  Most of his relatives and friends were denied the right to accompany him on his final journey.

M’rayr’s problem, different from that of  the settlers from Shilo and Qida, is the military base erected on village land which served as a hospital.  It was designated a “closed military area” and the residents are prevented from reaching it.  There are now rumors the army intends to evacuate the base and the villagers are certain the army will turn the location over to settlers. 

Another dangerous area is a plot of 125 dunums belonging to a villager.  He has a kushan from 1957 proving his ownership of the land.  The army allowed a lone settler, guarded by dogs, to take over the land, and soldiers threaten with weapons villagers who try to approach.  The villagers feel that the settler’s friends who visit will soon join him.  That’s how a new settlement will soon be established on stolen land.

Other than these lands, not much land has been expropriated from villagers.  “The settlers are erecting a fence so we won’t come to our lands, and we repeatedly destroy it,” they tell us.  “We’re not giving in, and we’re teaching our children not to give in.”

In fact, when we leave the village the children we met when we entered had already managed to place rocks on the village access road.  A local resident whose way was blocked left his car and quietly moved them.  He doesn’t scold the children.

12:00  Majdal Bani Fadl is located 3-4 km. from Duma.  Though the distance is very short, there’s a big difference in the atmosphere and way of life in the two villages.

At the municipal building we meet the secretary, J., whom we know.  There was no school today in Majdal either, in solidarity with Al Aqsa.  “The attack on religion is what’s most serious,” he tells us, but confirms there was no demonstration in the village. 

Residents of Majdal have been lucky, compared to those of other villages in the area.  Most of the problems are on Highway 458 to Ma’aleh Adumim.  There settlers from Aish Kodesh attack Palestinian vehicles.  Two years ago settlers entered the village and burned vehicles, but haven’t returned since.  The army also seldom comes.  The fact that the villagers haven’t organized a security patrol (like in neighboring villages like Qusra or Jalud) is apparently because they feel relatively secure.  That feeling is encouraged by the fact that about 80% of the village buildings are in Area B.  Though most of the land is in Area C, it’s near the village.  Therefore, the villagers’ main problem with respect to the olive harvest is not the limited number of days allotted, but the lack of rain.  The haze that covered the country also covered the trees with a layer of dust and they can’t pick the olives until the rain washes the dust away.

J. describes an incident that occurred a few days ago at Tapuach junction.  A villager waiting for a ride  was attacked by settlers.  It should be noted that the few soldiers on site didn’t come to his aid.

One of the village’s problems, like that of others in the area, is emigration.  The village has 3000 residents.  1500 live abroad.

J. also left for Kuwait but returned after Saddam Hussein invaded.

13:00  Tapuach junction.  A jeep is  parked in the lot, three soldiers are sprawled alongside on the ground, and three soldiers patrol beside Highway 5.