ICAHD is launching a campaign to help protect the Atta Jaber family following a series of threats and attacks that began on 6 June. Since that date either the Israeli civil administration or aggressive settlers from the Kiryat Arba settlement near Hebron have invaded their property in al-Baqaa on an almost weekly basis. The latest appearance was the fifth and happened on Friday, 12th July, when the settlers uprooted Attais vegetables and replaced his with theirs. The Jaber family has experienced two house demolitions and many acts of terror as the settlers attempt to confiscate the last 16 of their original 100 acres and drive them from land that has been in their family for over 600 years.
Follow ICAHD’s campaign on the ICAHD website and on the ICAHD UK Facebook page (no personal Facebook account needed).
Reservoir Raiders – a West Bank farmer, Atta Jaber, sees his rainwater reservoir, essential for his crops, destroyed. Other farmers suffer the same fate with their essential reservoirs. A 1999 production by Earth Report director Bruno Sorrentino on www.tve.org.uk, in association with UNEP and WWF. Here uploaded on Vimeo.
ICAHDis association with the Jaber family began in 1998 when the Jaber home was demolished by the Israeli authorities for the first time for lack of building permit, which Israelis Civil Administration, its military government, refuses to issue to Palestinians. The house was rebuilt with help from ICAHD and CPT (Christian Peacemaker Teams), but was demolished a second time the next month. In that violent demolition Atta was severely injured and arrested. Having nowhere else to go, Atta insisted on rebuilding, and their home still stands but then in 2002 the home of Attais brother, Jawdi, was demolished.
The family has suffered from many acts of terrorism from the extreme religious settlers of Kiryat Arba which is built on Jaber family land. Over the years Jeff Halper and others from ICAHD have participated acts of non-violent resistance as they have faced Israeli bulldozers on the site. ICAHD has helped to highlight the familyis story and has brought many delegations to meet the Jaber family, especially during the extended study tours and on field trips as part of its annual rebuilding camps.