The Bedouin Land Clash

As the Taxi speeds along the highway, charred blackened stumps in neat rows running as far as the eye can see line the side of the road. I ask the driver what they were: “It was a farm, the Israelis came and destroyed it.” This is the evidence of one such land clearance. In order to make way for settlements or simply ruled illegal under Israeli military law, the IDF has executed a policy of demolishing the Olive farms that proliferate the landscape. It is hard to conceive how Olive trees that are literally a hundred years old could be justified as illegal by a state that is little over 60. Setting fire to the trees or simply using chainsaws and bulldozers, the destruction of these farms is a devastating blow to the future Palestinian state – Olives are Palestine’s most important crop and account for over 30% of GDP. In recent years the policy has shifted: the trees will be uprooted and replanted in the Israeli settlements. Destroying the Olive plantations does not just heavily damage the economy, but destroys livelihoods, throwing thousands of Palestinian farmers and their families into poverty.

Dropped on the side of the road, we watch as the taxi slides into the horizon, the desert hills towering to our sides. Following the dusty uphill track, we stumble into the Bedouin camp. Its ramshackle structures built with whatever materials can be scavenged. The Bedouins are semi-nomadic tribes that stretch from North Africa across the entire Middle East. Under the occupation, the tribes are buckling into poverty and isolation. Once able to utilise vast swathes of land, the Tribes have found themselves pushed onto smaller and smaller areas. Unable to sustain their herds, the Bedouins traditional livelihoods are drying up. Many have left for the towns and cities of Israel, but with little education they have adapted poorly; in some towns as much as 60% of the unemployed population are Bedouin Arabs.

Goats and children run around whilst the elders drink tea watching satellite TV in the shade. Around 20KM outside Jenin and surrounded by 3 settlements, the camp is home to around 100 people, the surrounding camps raising the total to about 200. In an attempt to improve conditions, the Elders elected to build a school for the large population of children. In true Bedouin style, its constructed out of discarded tyres from the road, filled with concrete and covered in mud. The Israelis however, have ruled the school an illegal structure, and stated that it will be demolished unless it obtains the required permits. To prevent the demolition, the school has to be finished in an ever-shrinking time frame. As a result, we like many other internationals have come to assist in its construction. Like many actions taken in the occupied territories, the intent to demolish a school for a population suffocating from poverty seems difficult to justify.