Going out enjoying nature and making use of its blessings became a fate-shaping decision that Palestinian citizens carefully think about because doing so is considered a crime by the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) which have been introducing laws which support its colonial construction policies that aim at depriving Palestinian citizens of their right to the land.
The Jordan Valley area has a special status as it is targeted by the IOF and settlers the most who come and go through these lands destroying facilities and confiscating and exploiting its fertile lands at the expense of the indigenous people preventing them from making use of their lands under the pretext of protecting and maintaining the environment.
Destruction and persecution
As the northern part of the Jordan Valley has been turned into fields for training and shooting for the IOF and has been colonized by Israeli settlements the so-called Israeli Authority of Environment persecutes Palestinian farmers and residents of the area by imposing high fines on them and arresting them sometimes.
Activist against Israeli settlements in the Jordan Valley and the head of the local council of Wadi Al-Malih villages Arif Daraghmeh affirmed that since the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and the Jordan Valley successive Israeli governments have adopted policies against Palestinian existence in the area and worked on ending that presence in the last few years.
Daraghmeh noted that the so called Israeli Environment Authority has annexed and surrounded with barbed wire some 3000 dunums of lands classifying them as natural reserves barring Palestinian citizens from entering them and herding their sheep as well as barring them from picking up herbs such as thyme gundelia and other herbaceous plants under various claims.
Talking to the PIC Daraghmeh added “We saw that those lands were not shut down for preserving nature purposes rather we saw Israeli military training which spoilt nature and killed wild animals and birds’ eggs and even burnt plants due to these trainings.”
Freehand for Israeli settlers
This escalation did not stop by shutting down 3000 dunums as Daraghmeh affirms that “this land has been given out to Israeli settlers so that they could stay there and herd their sheep and in the last few years the Israeli occupation authorities have launched a campaign targeting Palestinians who pick up herbs especially gundelia. In one month 10 donkeys belonging to Palestinians have been confiscated and high fines were imposed on local Palestinians.”
Daraghmeh notes that usually a hide and seek sort of play take place between Palestinians and Israeli occupation soldiers or the so-called Israeli Environment Authority. These Palestinians make a living out of selling herbaceous plants which usually end up with detaining these Palestinians humiliating them and imposing high fines on them in addition to confiscating their donkeys and arresting them sometimes according to Daraghmeh.
Daraghmeh believes that the Israeli occupation’s double standard policies against Palestinians in the Jordan Valley area aim to humiliate Palestinians and to besiege them in all their minute life details while unleashing Israeli settlers and allowing them to live there in freedom. These policies aim at creating a state of fear and hopelessness among Palestinians who work hard day and night to make their living at a time they receive no official support.
The Jordan Valley area is famous for herbaceous plants which made it a destination for those who seek to obtain these plants. Surrounding mountains in the area see the presence of hundreds of Palestinian citizens during this season both locals and from other cities who come to look for malvas borage officinalis gundelia thyme which is considered a profitable season for many Palestinian citizens and families.
