The landscape of settlements

We were sitting outside on the terrace, enjoying the warm weather; Maryam and her sister made fresh bread for us (picture by Ingrid). We ate it with olive oil and herbs; it was delicious bread. We were chatting with Maryam and her sister, they told us a little bit about their lives in the Jahalin village. If you do not look around you, the picture is idyllic. However, the landscape around the house is not as pretty a picture. On one side of the house, the Palestinian Authority is building a road that will become one of the main arteries of the West Bank with two lanes in each direction. The construction site is so close to Maryam’s house that it actually took some of her property. The noise and dust are terrible and the construction does not look near completion. The little land Maryam’s family received after being displaced from their original land is now being chopped away; she tells us that her herb garden is gone.

On the other side of the house, in the distance, you can see two major Israeli settlements, Ma’ale Adumim on the left, spreading its numerous tentacles on a beautiful hill; then Kedar on the right, also on a hill, much smaller at this point, but showing all signs of potential growth. Maryam pointed out to a few structures, caravans and other precarious habitations, laying out in the valley between the hills. She told us these are Bedouin families who have been displaced once already and are now asked to move again to vacate this strategic valley; both settlements will ideally become one. Yet, the alternative for these bedouin families is a toxic waste dump. Ma’ale Adumim is the largest settlement in the East part of Jerusalem. Israel has now established 12 settlements around Jerusalem on 17,600 acres of Palestinian land that was annexed in 1967. According to Ma’ale Adumim’s official website (http://www.jr.co.il/ma/), the population of the settlement had reached 34,500 inhabitants at the end of 2008; the ultimate goal is to reach 50,000. Kedar is its little child. Standing on Maryam’s terrace, the Israeli “master plan” for greater Jerusalem suddenly looks very real: it slowly swallows the hills of Southeast Jerusalem and these fortified towns are ready to destroy anything that stands in their way. How can you win with a simple tent?