PALESTINE Memories of 1948 - Photographs of Jerusalem | Page 54

years before an olive tree bears fruit. I wrote a letter to
Yitzhak Rabin. I never got an answer.
In 1991, I received a letter informing me that my
32 dunums had now become the property of what some
Israelis and the settlers call “Judea and Samaria”. That
year, many lands were confiscated and the settlements
expanded dramatically. I decided to go see the judge to
lodge a complaint. When I arrived at her office, I saw
the walls covered with maps of Palestine.
I was studying them attentively when she said:
‘All the lands shown on these maps are part of Judea
and Samaria. 10 Show me where yours is!’
I said no. I did not want to play that game.
I said:
‘The settlers cut my trees…’
‘But your house is two kilometres away from your
land’, she retorted. ‘How could you know they cut the
trees?’
‘The land is flat,’ I answered. ‘At two in the morn-
ing, when there is only silence, noise travels. In the
morning, I saw my trees massacred!’
I had pictures of the trunks of the trees mauled by
axes, it was total carnage. I spread them all out on the
table. She realized that the law had to be enforced,
and that was enough to stop everything. My land has
remained mine, but I had no access to it after the Iraqi
invasion of Kuwait and for the two years that followed.
Meanwhile the settlers used to have picnics there. It is
at this time that all my brothers had to leave Kuwait. 11
To be able to harvest the olives, I had to appeal to
the Red Cross, who were able to get me a pass. But it
was only valid for two hours! Moreover, it could not
be used at any time: it had to be at 7 am, and on top
of all that I would be surrounded by four police cars.
When the settlers saw me, they became furious and
spat on me.
These settlers are desperate to own our land and
expand their settlements. In 1967, in Jericho, a Jorda-
nian Minister at the time who owned some land died.
The Israelis found a peasant who had the same name as
the minister and made him sign a contract of sale. No
matter whether it was legal or not, they needed a signa-
ture. That is why I never sign any paper. I do not want
52
Memories of 1948
to be killed and my signature to be used for selling my
land after I am dead…
Two years ago, the settlers decimated 107 of my trees
that were between 30 and 50 years old. They were plan-
ning to build swimming pools and distributed advertis-
ing leaflets even before starting their work, so confident
were they of getting away with it. What breaks my heart
is that for the past 15 years my right of access to my
olive trees has been shrinking day by day. And this even
despite the help of an Israeli association of Israeli law-
yers, “Harakat Al Salam”, 12 that has been trying for a
few years now  to help us whenever the settlers attack
us or take our lands and threaten us. It is reassuring to
know that there are some people in Israel who under-
stand that we have the right to stay in our homes. But
frankly, calling the land that remains ours the “Palestin-
ian territory” is blatant mockery of the Palestinians and
of international agreements, while the whole world turns
a blind eye as Israel and the settlers try to eradicate us.
The story of my land must be known throughout the
region because recently the head of the Israeli army in
the West Bank asked to meet me. He wanted to know
how many litres of olive oil I could produce annually
and if I could make a living from it, and I said yes.
Nowadays, I am no longer allowed to go to my land
whenever I want. The head of security in the settle-
ments, an Iraqi Jew, has decided that I can only access
my land six days per year: one day to fertilize it and five
days in October to harvest my olives! And of course,
never at weekends because those are the days when the
settlers enjoy their walks there. Each time I go there,
I need to be “escorted” by four Israeli soldiers. They
tell me it is to protect me from the settlers. Five days is
not enough; so I have to find lots of helping hands in
order not to lose the harvest. Meantime they have wid-
ened the road through my land illegally by annexing
an additional 1.5 dunums. And today I received this
eviction notice, just because they have decided that
it shall be so, and the “Iraqi” has the power to post
armed guards wherever he wants. A few months ago, he
said to me with a crafty smile: ‘If you were to sell, you
would be rich, you could buy a new car for each one of
your children…’.