Huwwara and Asira al Qibliya: Daily life
Huwwara is a bustling town a little south of Nablus. The population in 2018 was 6,500. The main north-south road in the West Bank— Road 60— forms the main street in the town. It is a hub of activity with many stores, workshops, restaurants, cafes, falafel and schwarma eateries, and sweet shops. There is even an AM-PM market. There are also three Mosques on the main street, with more in other places in the town. It was the main checkpoint for entering Nablus, until all the checkpoints around Nablus were dismantled. There is a large Israeli Defense Forces base on the eastern edge of the town. The Israeli settlement Yitzhar is situated on a ridge overlooking the town to the north-west.
We spoke with A. who is the head of the Service and Public Relations office in the town Council.
Health: There is a public clinic in the town set up by the Palestinian Authority. It is open every day, all day and night, and it serves people in the area. There is one general doctor and one male nurse, with shifts; but no specialized doctors. There are no midwives, pregnant women can only get First Aid here, they must go to Nablus Hospital. Since 2010, the Council has been demanding that the PA increase the workforce in the clinic, and add modern equipment, but they have not done anything. The dentist in the town is private.
Employment. There is 21% unemployment in the town. A. says that the economy is poor. Only eateries selling sweets or schawarma are doing good business. To buy vegetables and fruit, people prefer to go to Yasuf, a nearby farming village, where they probably buy at cheaper prices. This is not obvious to someone who comes into the town and sees the bustling main street. Behind this activity there are many unemployed.
Leisure and Sport: For the children and youth in the town there are no facilities, not even a soccer field. They play in the streets. Many of the boys help their fathers at work, and the girls help their mothers.
Harassment. Yitzhar settlers are getting bolder and bolder, and violate all the rules dictating moral and legal behaviour. Has anyone ever told them they must respect other people’s property and their rights to live? What about the Ten Commandents? “Do not steal” (#8); “Do not covet your neighbour’s house… or anything that is your neighbor’s” (#10) (retrieved MJL). Settlers now openly attack Palestinian property. First, they ruin their cars. Two days ago at night they smashed the windows of two cars parked near homes. A. said that this happens often. Two and a half months ago, the windows of all the cars in a parking lot on the edge of town were smashed. On his phone, we saw a picture of the damage. On the town’s main road there are several traffic circles; most incidents occur in the area of the last traffic circle, on the road that leads east to the army base. Secondly, every year there are problems during the olive harvest.
The third and main object of their greedy attack is of course, land. Unashamedly, two weeks ago, bulldozers came from the direction of Yitzhar and uprooted 200 dunams of olive groves on that side of Huwwara’s land. Then they brought in caravans and just placed them in that “empty” area. Another outpost.
We asked if the farmers, the owners of those plots, had sent a complaint to the DCO (District Commanding Officer) whose office is in the nearby army base. The farmers are afraid to complain to the DCO or to take their complaint to a court. The stolen plots of land belong to many people in each family; some of these men have permits to work in Israel. They know that if they complain they will lose their work permits. Moreover, Btselem sent pictures and reports, Yesh Din published pictures of the damaged cars, but nothing has come of these reports.
By not judging the settlers, the judiciary authority is in effect empowering them to commit further acts of vandalism and land expropriation.
Traumatized Children. We asked about children’s feelings and reactions to incidents with settlers and army. The children are afraid of the settlers and the soldiers, A. said. There are no psychologists in the town. But Doctors of the World (Medecins du Monde, a French organization) come whenever they hear of an incident and talk to all the children. They take traumatized children to the Nablus hospital to a unit where the child can receive psychological therapy on a daily basis.
Asira al Qibliya: This village of 3,000 people is west of the Yitzhar settlement, and under the ridge on which it is situated. It is a rather small village. It seems quiet and lovely. We spoke with A. the Council treasurer.
Water: There is no problem with water in the winter. But in the summer there is a problem. There is a water reservoir in Awarta, but it cannot supply enough water for all the villages in the area.
Education: There are 2 elementary schools, 1 for boys and 1 for girls but only one high school, where for lack of space, they all study together. About 90% of the students go on to study at a university – either in Nablus or in Ramallah. As in all the villages and towns we have visited we hear the same – there is no work for graduates in their field of study. A.’s own son studied economics, but he now works in Israel as a manual laborer.
Leisure and Sports. For children and youth there is a playing field by the high school. This field has facilities for soccer, basketball and volleyball. The girls can play on the field as well as the boys, but they play separately.
Working Abroad: We noted that there are some very beautiful homes in the village. These were built by families in which one or more members went abroad to work and invested the money they earned in building a home here. Leaving the Palestinian territories is not a big problem. They go to Jordan and fly from there. But to get to Jordan they have to pass through three checkpoints by Jericho. The first checkpoint is for the Palestinian Authority, the second is that of the Israel Defense Forces on Allenby Bridge, and the third is that of the Jordanians. About 40% of the people in the village have gone abroad. They go to Jordan, Kuwait, and a few to Europe and America.
Employment: 30% of the men work in Israel. 70% of the men work in the village. The village is situated in a valley. The western slopes of the hills contain layers of sandstone that are considered among the very best for building. The village has many stone quarries, and many men work in the quarries. The stone is sold to Israel and to other countries in the region, even to the countries by the Persian Gulf. It is considered the most beautiful sandstone. There are also a number of workshops where the stone is cut and finished for various purposes. However, in spite of the economic benefit, this work creates a lot of dust and is a medical problem for those who work there; many suffer from cancer.
Health: In the village there is a clinic with one doctor who is there every day from 8:00 am to 3:00 pm. Because of the dust from the quarries there is quite a bit of sickness in the village, such as asthma and cancer. People can go to the hospital in Nablus. Those who need medical service that the Nablus hospital cannot provide try to go to a hospital in Israel. The Palestinian Authority pays for Israel to accept those who are very sick. A. says that in the cancer ward at Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv, 80% of the patients are from the Gaza Strip and the Palestinian territories.
Samaritans: The village is very close to Har Grizim, outside of Nablus, home to the largest Samaritan community, about 800 people. They see themselves as the authentic Jews, from the time of Biblical Moses. Men outnumber women, so some marry women from the Holon community. They consider Jews heretics and vice-versa. There is no intermarriage, but some have converted to Judaism. They have shops in Nablus. Significantly, the Palestinian villagers have a good relationship with this community.
Harassment: Yitzhar settlers come down to the outer houses in the village and bother the residents. They break the windows of these houses with stones. Moreover, farmers can’t go to their plots of land or their olive groves if they are on the slopes near the settlement. As a result, 100 farmers have lost a total of 600 dunams of land.
A Solution to the Conflict: A. says that peace between Israel and the Palestinians is the only solution. “Israel must leave the Palestinian territories and give back our land to us, so we can have our country and our rights.”