There is no single house in the Yizra hamlet in the Jordan Valley that does not have a martyr or an injured person in it due to the continuing military drills and shooting of the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) in the area.
The family of the elderly Palestinian Naeem Hafiz al-Masaeed fell a victim to these drills as three of them were affected. The father and his wife were injured. Their child died due to an explosion of one of the leftovers of the Israeli army drills.
A victim in each house
Despite the fact that Naeem Hafiz Masaeed was injured some 48 years ago Masaeed still remembers the difficult time when he was shot by the IOF bullets when the Israeli occupation soldiers were engaged in military drills near his village Alghuria which is located to the west of Tubas.
Masaeed told the PIC reporter “While I was watching my sheep drinking from the village’s water well in December 1969 which was during the holy month of Ramadan as far as I remember the soldiers shot at me directly while they were exercising. I was shot in the chest while I was bowing down and the bullet ended up in my back. I was transferred to Rafidia hospital in Nablus and I was hospitalized for one month. The bullet is still inside my body and every time I exert some efforts I feel the pain of that bullet which is near my spinal cord.”
This was not the last time an injury occurred in the family. His wife Um Hafiz told the PIC reporter “In 1993 her child Ibrahim who was nine years at the time left the house to herd the sheep where he played with a strange object left by the IOF that exploded in his hands killing him instantly.”
She added “I was also injured by the bullets fired during the IOF drills while I was standing at the yard of my house. This took place in 2001 and I was injured in my right pelvis.” She continued “Our life became difficult due to these drills but we would not leave our lands regardless of what happens.”
Military zone
Mokhles Masaeed the head of the local council of Yizra said the hamlet is one of the hamlets in the Jordan valley and it is affiliated with the city of Tubas. Before the occupation of the West Bank in 1967 some 120-150 families used to live there and after 1967 it was turned into a military zone by the Israeli occupation authorities.
He adds “The IOF intentionally carries out drills in the vicinity of the hamlet despite the large spaces in the Jordan Valley. No single week passes without the IOF announcing drills near the hamlet with the main aim being harassing the Palestinian residents.”
He notes “Since 1967 the IOF drills resulted in the murder of four Palestinians in the hamlet: Mahmoud Hamid Inabsawi 15 who was killed in 1971 Ibraheem Naeem Masaeed 9 who was killed in 1993 Mushtapha Khader Bsharat 30 who was killed in 2006 and Jamal Abdulnasser Fuqaha 30 who was killed in 2009 in addition to dozens of injuries.”
No support
The Israeli occupation launched a fierce war against the residents of the hamlet varying in methods including demolition of houses confiscation of sheep destruction of agricultural lands and announcing the vicinity of their houses closed military zones. All of this aimed at forcing Palestinians out of the area. Despite this the residents of Yizra are suffering from official Palestinian negligence and the hamlet lacks much infrastructure.
Mokhles Masaeed said that locals pay the price for demolitions carried out by the IOF against them which increases the costs of life for them.
Masaeed affirmed to the PIC reporter “People are in need for financial support and projects to strengthen their steadfastness on their lands. The hamlet is in a desperate need to have proper infrastructure such as clean water as the cost of transferring a cubic square meter of water from the nearest location is 25 NIS which is very expensive. We tried to install a water line which was damaged by the IOF four times and the soldiers destroyed the water tank. Six months ago we had installed a plastic pipeline to transfer water with the help of one of the societies which was destroyed too.”
Masaeed added “Every single project we build gets destroyed. The sandy road was also destroyed. Now it is under the risk of being destroyed again. Even the hamlet’s mosque was razed three times.”
He concluded “The students in the hamlet are also suffering due to the lack of a nearby school. They bear the burden of going to Tubas city’s schools which are far. We are in need for a bus that takes and brings them back to reduce the costs the families bear.”
