Nora Barrows-Friedman

BETHLEHEM, Aug 16 (IPS) - Israeli forces began
Wednesday to bulldoze hundreds of trees on land
owned by a Catholic convent near the city of Beit
Jala near Bethlehem. This section of forest is
being razed, according to Israeli plans, to
complete a section of the separation wall, which
continues to carve the West Bank into pieces.

Near the convent, the Israeli settlement colonies
of Gilo and Har Gilo, behind the wall on
Palestinian lands, continue to expand over the
rocky hillsides.

When this section of the wall is completed,
several villages will be separated from each
other and the greater Bethlehem area. But this is
not an isolated incident these days in the West
Bank.

A few kilometres east of the Cremisan convent and
Bethlehem city, the small Palestinian village of
Wadi Rahaal is facing extinction as a result of
expanded Israeli settlement policy and the
widening path of the wall.

"We are now surrounded by the settlement of
Efrat," Suha Ziyada, 22, one of the 750 residents
of Wadi Rahaal tells IPS. "They started
constructing the wall several months ago...and
the settlement is growing every day." Efrat
settlement colony, part of the Gush Etzion
settlement bloc, currently houses approximately
9,000 settlers, including Israelis and immigrants
from the U.S., Canada, South Africa, Britain and
Russia.

The Efrat settlement colony website states that
"a garden city has blossomed in the Judean
hills." Yet one can see that large swaths of
forest area and wilderness have been destroyed as
the settlement grows, and settler-only roads cut
the hillsides in half.

"This used to be a beautiful forest where we
would go for picnics," Ziyada tells IPS, pointing
to a hill near her home. "But now, it's been all
cut down. The top of the hill is all gone. There
used to be wildlife here, many different animals
that would live in the forest. But they're all
gone too.

"We can't build any more houses in the village.
The Israeli military prohibits any villager to
expand their home and build on the land. A few
months ago, (the Israeli military) destroyed
three houses at the edge of the village because a
settler complained to the military that he didn't
want to see Arab houses from his window. So the
military came in and destroyed the houses."

Ziyada also tells IPS that the settlement
practices collective punishment in many ways to
eradicate the villagers from their land. "The
water supply comes from the settlement, so they
control it. Last month, we didn't have running
water for three weeks. They cut the water and
said there was damage to the pipes, even though
we knew it wasn't true."

Last year, the Israeli military blocked every
road but one in and out of Wadi Rahaal and
installed a locking metal gate on the remaining
road that imprisons the villagers every evening.
The soldiers lock the gate at arbitrary times;
there is no set schedule, and many residents find
themselves unable to enter or leave their village
at regular hours.

"The settlers enter Wadi Rahaal, they walk around
to intimidate and frighten the villagers. They
throw rocks at our heads and they are all armed.
There are also Israeli helicopters that fly over
the village very low. There are checkpoints all
over the village," Ziyada says.

Just two weeks ago, Ziyada gave birth to a
daughter, Mayar. "I was scared to death to give
birth during the closure. When I went into
labour, the gate was closed and locked. We tried
to go around through another road, but it was
impossible. So my mother went to have a fight
with the soldiers in the settlement. We have no
hospital, no clinic in the village, so I had to
go to the Bethlehem hospital."

After hours of anxious waiting for an Israeli
soldier to come and unlock the gate, Ziyada, in
active labour during that time, was finally able
to reach the hospital.

The anxiety of waiting for someone to unlock the
gate was worse than the labour pains, she says.
"That feeling kills you; not having the ability
to control your own life and not having the
ability to give birth in security. This is the
situation of all the Palestinian women here. The
pregnant women are all afraid of what will happen
when we give birth."

Meanwhile, the Israeli Interior Ministry has
issued a report stating that the population
growth of Israeli settlers is double that of the
civilian population living inside the 1948
borders of Israel proper. The Ministry revealed
that there are currently 275,156 settlers living
in illegal settlements in the West Bank, a 5.45
percent growth from last year's census figure of
260,932.

The fact that settlers are continuing to colonise
the West Bank is in direct contravention to
international law. Article 49 of the Fourth
Geneva Convention stipulates that "the occupying
power shall not deport or transfer parts of its
own civilian population into the territory it
occupies."

Dr. Mustafa Barghouti, leader of the Palestinian
National Initiative, a party that places itself
apart from both Fatah and Hamas, told IPS in an
emailed comment that Israel is pushing forward
with settlement expansion projects across the
West Bank, which "immediately negates any
possibility of a contiguous Palestinian
state...these developments further support the
PNI's long-stated claim that Israel has no
intention of ending its occupation of Palestinian
territory or abiding by international law.
Rather, the Israeli government remains content
with its goal of the continued illegal
expropriation of Palestinian land."

Ziyada says that she is afraid for her daughter's
future. "Being a mother is a wonderful feeling --
but in this situation, it kills your dreams.
Everyone wants to have a child, to provide them
with the best life, but I can't take my daughter
to the clinic when she is sick. I just think,
what if she gets sick at night when the gate is
closed, what shall I do?"

Copyright © 2007 IPS-Inter Press Service. All rights reserved.