19 February 09

For immediate release:

For three days Israeli military vehicles have surrounded the village of Jayyous ordering all of the town’s youth to submit for inspection at the local school.  The rest of the village was placed under curfew by the Israeli army and prevented from leaving their homes. 

Journalists have been barred from entering the village.  In similar curfew situations, Israel has a policy of killing civilians who leave their homes, as punishment for “violating the curfew” or enacting their freedom of movement.

Jayyous Mayor Muhammad Taher Jaber described the situation as “miserable,” saying that residents are fleeing the town in fear.

“The Israelis’ actions aim to make us leave our land,” he said.

Jaber added that the Israeli troops are threatening the village in an attempt to stop weekly demonstrations taking place in the town.

“The Israeli wall confiscated about 600 dunums of lands and 8,600 dunums were isolated behind the wall, where the town’s area is 12,500 dunums,” adding that thousands of jobs were lost as a result of the wall and the isolation of agricultural land.

The residents of Jayyous organize a weekly demonstration against the construction of the separation wall on village land. Foreign activists frequently attend the events and Israeli soldiers regularly invade the town and harass its residents following the departure of the activists.

On Tuesday, 30 Palestinians were arrested from across the West Bank, and on Monday close to 50 were taken. All were deemed “wanted” by Israeli authorities and taken to unknown locations for questioning.

According to Israeli sources the village was raided in a sweep for illegal weapons. An army spokesperson told the Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth, that forces were operating in the town following a rise in the number of incidents involving the throwing of stones at Israeli vehicles.

LifeSource has been following this siege of the village closely for fear that the village’s water supply may be cut off during the curfew imposed by the army, making it impossible for water tankers to reach the village.

In January, the village went for 20 days without water, after a standard part needed for the pump was delayed entry by the Israeli authorities.

Water delivered by tankers to Jayyous during this interruption in supply cost 80 shekels per tank of 3 cubic meters, or more than 26 shekels per cubic meter.  Water delivered through the network costs 3.5 shekels per cubic meter, or about a dollar per cubic meter.  26 2/3 shekels per cubic meter is not an affordable price for Israelis, let alone for Palestinians, whose economy has been strangled by the Israeli Occupation.

In August and September, Jayyous water supply was limited to no more than 3 hours of water per day.  The reservoir was completely empty due to lack of water pressure.  Water cuts to Palestinian communities during the summer months are frequent and regular, as Israel controls and limits Palestinians’ access to the water resources under their land.

Jayyous owns 6 wells that have been confiscated by Israel’s illegal construction of a Wall, which also annexes more than 70% of Jayyous land colonized by the Israeli settlement of Tsufim.

Jayyous faces problems of access to water and quality of water, due to the confiscation of all 6 of Jayyous’ indigenous wells and the construction of an illegal Israeli landfill with industrial waste from the settlements near Azzun’s northern well, which now supplies the 3,575 residents of Jayyous and four other villages.

LifeSource stands in solidarity with the village of Jayyous as they resist the illegal wall stealing the village’s land and water resources, jeopardizing the village’s livelihood in the process.

LifeSource condemns the intimidation tactics of the occupying power, which aim to quell resistance and undermine the human rights of the people of Jayyous and all of Palestine.

LifeSource aims to support popular resistance by Palestinian communities against Israeli violations of their human right to water.  This summer the region is expected to receive the lowest amount of rainfall in 50 years.  Israeli intimidation tactics, such as these witnessed in Jayyous the past 3 days, will be an obstacle to Palestinians’ popular demonstration this summer for their right to water.  Nonetheless, we hope to generate mass protest against Israel’s colonization of Palestinian water resources.

85% of the purest groundwater in the region, the Mountain Aquifer, is recharged in the West Bank.