1946: The resistance begins in Battir
Villagers temporarily sought safety elsewhere, despite knowing that an undefended, deserted village would almost certainly be destroyed. A local man, Mustafa Hassan, made sure that lighted candles were placed in the house windows at night and that in the morning cattle were taken out to pasture, giving the illusion that the village was still inhabited. Mustafa also built relationships with the Jordanian army and the Palestinian resistance movement who regularly provided a protective presence in Battir to discourage Israeli forces from entering and destroying it. This village located metres from the border with Israel survived. Forty others in the district no longer exist.
As we stood overlooking the landscape of Battir, a train rumbled along the track making its slow journey from Jerusalem to Jaffa, passing between a small patchwork of cultivated fields on either side. Earlier, Sultan, the owner of the information centre had explained how the railway track marked the famous ‘Green Line’, the border between Israel and Palestine agreed in 1949. 30 percent of the land belonging to the village is on the other side of the tracks within the State of Israel but Mustafa Hassan took part in negotiations which led to a unique agreement where villagers were allowed to keep the land in return for preventing damage to the railway.
Once again the community took action, this time an eight-year battle through the Israeli courts to stop the construction of the barrier, led by local Environmental Consultant Hassan Muamer. Drawing upon their shared history of peaceful, purposeful protest they gathered detailed evidence showing the full impact of the separation barrier on the local natural environment. Previous objections to the barrier on human rights grounds were rejected by Israel, so the community decided think creatively and went to great lengths to prove the environmental worth of the land instead, mapping wildlife passages over time and proving to the court that these would be disrupted. They galvanised the support of Israeli environmentalist groups by showing them the richness of the landscape, particularly the springs of water which irrigated the land and attracted animals to drink from miles around.