Restricted in al-Walaja

09.03.11
By Melanie van der Voort, PNN

Many years ago the grandfather of Abed owned 6 dunams of land in al-Walaja, south of Bethlehem. Now Abed (55) owns it. Since the occupation however, Abed is restricted to go to his land. To protect it, he decided to live in the 4,000 year old Can’ani cave, which is part of the land.

Abed is restricted in a lot of ways. His family constructed the main road from Bethlehem to the land. "Now the Israeli army blocked the main entrance of the road and made it only accessible for Israeli citizens," explains Abed. "Although I have a Jerusalem ID, they won’t let me through a lot of times.''

For every piece of property on his land, Abed has a court case [pending]: the eco toilet, kitchen (which is basically only an oven), compost, chicken house. He is not allowed to build anything on his land.

Even the 4,000 year old Can’ani cave has a court case. It's around 4 square metres, only a small bed, sofa and fire place can fit inside. Even a door for the cave to protect Abed from the cold is not allowed.

"One time I made a door and when I was gone people destroyed it," he says. Whether it was done by settlers or the army, Abed doesn’t know.

Abed has all the documents that proof he is the owner of the land: Turkish, Jordanian and Palestinian papers. He even has the ID card of his grandfather.

"I will never sell a piece of land," he says. "It has happened that businessmen came and wanted to buy some land in order to build a petrol station or a wedding hall. But I will never sell a piece of land."

Water and electricity are cut. But he has found alternative solutions for that. A generator was donated by internationals and a nearby monastery is willing to let Abed fill up water tanks.

Desperately seeking help, Abed wrote a letter to president Obama to invite him for a cup of coffee. The letter was published in newspapers and send through the embassy. No answer reached Abed.

Like Abed, in this region many farmers suffer from the occupation. Some are not able to go to their land because it was split up by the wall or a settler's road. Others find their land destroyed over and over by settlers or the army.

Every day, Abed feels the pressure of his land's imminent destruction. In order to protect it, he decided to live in the cave. He can only try to visit his wife and 8 children in Bethlehem's Dheisheh refugee camp once a week.