Action on Wadi Fuqeen

This is an appeal to save an idyllic agricultural area Wadi Fuqeen, 12 km north of Bethlehem in the Hebron Hills with natural springs and delicate terraces fed by sensitive irrigation methods, that is being threatened and destroyed by encroaching Israeli settlements that discharge raw sewage into the valley. The hills are being dynamited for construction of the settlements - affecting the foundation of the village buildings. It appears another brazen attempt to make life so awful, and to create as much havoc as possible to the ecology and natural resources, that the Palestinians will leave. This is a typical example of what is happening throughout the West Bank, by the encroaching settlements.

The appeal is to write to your local MPs about this.
Abe

For those interested in details see:

http://www.ganim.org/FOEME/SEKER/Hydrological_system_of_wadi-Fuqeen.htm

This is a report from an eye witness Lilian El-doufani from Newbury for her local PSC group.

"There are urgent problems in our adopted village of Wadi Fuqeen. An overflow sewage pipe from the nearby Israeli settlement of Beitar Illit caused awful problems a fortnight ago. The nearby settlement of Beitar Illit presently has 23,000 residents. This is the situation in outline:

- The sewage pipe from Beitar Illit opened, the sewage flooded
agricultural lands and destroyed crops.

- The frequency of the sewage flows is increasing. In the past, it happened only a few times a year. Now, the sewage pipe is opened every 5 days. According to Shadi, the PMG field worker, the pipe is opened on Thursdays, just before the municipalities close for the Sabbath. The pipe isn't shut again until the villagers complain and complain.

- There is a serious fear that the sewage flows may eventually reach homes in the areas (ie when the ground is fully saturated).

- The sewage is said to be partially treated, but it is still dangerous and poisonous in its current state. The villagers worry that the sewage's effect on their land will be very lasting.

They are caught between a rock and a hard place, as it were: They cannot accept this happening and yet they fear having this information published in the local press because that would mean that other people will be reluctant to buy their produce. (If and when they can get their stuff to local markets/Bethlehem etc) They wouldn't then have any income from their agricultural activities and they rely heavily on this.
(Note: according to a Water Policy expert this is raw sewage that is being dumped onto the villagers' lands. The PWA conducted tests and found that it was raw sewage. The settlement council claims that it is treated, but they refused to let the UN environmental protection agency visit the site to check on the process).

Secondly, the villagers' legal campaign against demolition orders continues. I gather that one house has now received the formal demolition order - but no date for the demolition is ever given in these cases. No one knows when it will happen until the soldiers and demolition equipment turns up. So, no houses, trees, water reservoirs, or terracing has been demolished yet. However, everyone is now very stressed and worried.

Thirdly, the dynamiting that those of us who travelled there saw is continuing. The Israelis are doing it to remove large rocks and flatten areas above the village ready for settlement building. When we were there, we saw how close it was to the school and how cracks were appearing in the school building.

Well, one nearby house - home to 12 people - has now been very badly affected. The house has large cracks and the owners are very upset and worry about its safety. They fear the dynamiting has affected the foundations.

The IDF drive through the village most days and settlers (mainly young men) have begun visiting it, carrying at least one gun amongst them. They walk in the valley by the crops and, last summer, they swam in the water reservoirs!

If you can find time to bring these developments to the attention of your MP, the people in Wadi Fuqeen would be very grateful.