Ahmad Amarneh and his family are among 200 Palestinians living in Farasin village in Jenin who have decided to fight by all means to stay in their village and defy Israeli eviction and demolition threats.
In view of Israel’s policies which prohibit Palestinian construction in Area C Amarneh and his family have made a cave on the foothills overlooking Farasin their home and refused to leave to live in one of the neighboring villages where new construction is usually permitted.
We will never leave
Farasin was established hundreds of years ago. In the past it was a trade line passing through different towns and villages and leading to the southern area of Palestine and then to Egypt.
Amarneh in an interview with the Palestinian Information Center said “We will never leave. These settlements built on our lands must be dismantled. Our water well is 200 years old while the oldest [Israeli] settlement here is barely 50 years old.”
Over the past few weeks Amarneh and other residents of Farasin have received Israeli orders to demolish 36 structures including a water tank.
Despite the repeated demolition of Palestinian homes in Farasin Amarneh said that Israeli settlers will never achieve their dream of wiping the village off the map and expel its resident to other areas.
Mahmoud Amarneh the head of Farasin’s village council said that all Palestinian homes in Farasin are built of tin sheets because Israel prevents new construction.
He said that these simple houses play a significant role in challenging Israel’s expanding settlement activity in Farasin. That’s why they are repeatedly demolished or threatened with demolition by the Israeli authorities.
A few months ago the Council of Ministers in Ramallah approved a village council in Farasin as part of a plan to form village councils for the unrecognized areas in Area C which is exclusively administered by Israel and grant them the status of a village.
This step albeit late is massive yet it requires to be built on to develop a more comprehensive strategy to strengthen the steadfastness of Palestinians in these areas.
Ya’coub Obeid a resident of Farasin told the Palestinian Information Center’s reporter that the Israeli eviction orders they receive are illegal adding that they have official documents proving that they are the owners of the land.
Obeid said that he prefers living in a tin house where the basic needs are barely if ever met to leaving the area. “Israel simply does not want to see any of us here but we will never leave” he added.
