‘Whilst there are strict planning policies in Israel to ensure that industrial areas do not pollute or otherwise negatively impact local Israeli communities, such policies do not exist in the occupied West Bank.’
EA Billy
On the 6th December 2019, around 200 local Palestinians gathered by the side of road 574, running out of Tulkarm and southeast between the villages of Khirbet Jubara and Izbat Shufa. Local media were there, and so were many candidates for the upcoming local elections. It was a Friday, and many attending were taking the opportunity to catch up on the week’s events. At 11:30 in the morning, they began to pray.
The reason for this organised event relates to the large hill at the bottom of which the crowd was gathered. This hill and the area around it has recently been earmarked by Israeli authorities as the site for the construction of a new Industrial Zone. The site is approximately 3km inside the West Bank, and consists of land that has been illegally confiscated from local Palestinian farmers, many of whom were at the protest. The farmers do not receive compensation for the loss of their land.
‘They’re not just taking our land, they’re taking our clean air and clean water. They’re taking our quality of life’.
Raed Mahmoud