APN | Wadi Fukin and Al-Khader – Bethlehem

January 2024

The Zionist military presence pervades daily life in the West Bank, particularly in governorates bordering the Green Line. These areas are marked by the apartheid wall and numerous military checkpoints, iron gates, and barriers. These structures entirely disrupt Palestinian lives, serving as instruments of "subjugation" under the command of the Israeli occupation.

Based on this spatial segregation, the confiscation of Palestinian orchards and lands in these regions has escalated under various pretexts, particularly labeling them as "fallow areas". In response, APN steps in to support farmers and assist them in safeguarding their land through cultivation.

In this activity, which encompassed two locations within villages experiencing heightened confrontation with settlers in the Bethlehem governorate, and with the sponsorship of Ghiath and Nadia Sukhtian, our team successfully reached the initial designated area in Wadi Fukin village. This land, jointly owned by cousins, sits along a proposed route for a new bypass road measuring 40 meters wide, connecting 60th Street to the military checkpoint in Jab'a village.

The significance of this activity is underscored by the persistent efforts of the occupation to displace the local community and seize their land in the targeted area. The activity elicited a response from occupation soldiers, who resorted to throwing gas canisters at farmers in an attempt to forcibly remove them from their land following cultivation.

At the second location, situated in the village of al-Khader, we stood alongside a farmer whose land had been targeted by settlers in November 2023, resulting in the destruction of both the land and the well excavated within it. Additionally, we visited farmland adjacent to the Efrat settlement, where settlers persistently seek to appropriate the surrounding land and incorporate it into the settlement.