International Women's Peace Service: Nonviolence In Action

As of 12.01am May 4, you have helped us and the farmers of Deir Istyia to gather 3694 signatures! Thank you!

Organizations and News Sites are helping to spread the message and showing solidarity with the farmers of Deir Istyia/Wadi Qana:

The Fairtrade Foundation has expressed outrage and shock at the news that Israel has ordered nine Palestinian olive farmers of Deir Istiya, Salfit on the West Bank to uproot 1,400 olive trees in Wadi Qana area by 1 May 2012.

Electronic Intifada: Israel claims that olive trees in Wadi Qana must be uprooted for a nature reserve, but the move is about controlling the land and destroying the Palestinian economy.

Palestine Monitor: Deir Istiya’s Farmers are Under Siege

Deir Istiya, occupied West Bank—On Tuesday April 1 in the West Bank’s fertile Qana Valley, residents of Deir Istiya and members of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) organized a solidarity cleanup event for May Day. About 30 Palestinian and international volunteers gathered to aid Deir Istiya’s farmers in picking up the masses of plastic bags so commonly strewn throughout the West Bank.

However, the May Day event was arranged for another, rather gloomy, reason. According to the International Women’s Peace Service (IWPS), nine of Deir Istiya’s farmers were given orders last week by the Israeli Civil Administration (ICA—the Israeli governing body operating in the occupied West Bank) to uproot 1,400 olive trees in the Qana Valley agricultural area. They were given by May 1st to do so.

Read more about Wadi Qana below and here

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On June 1st 2012, the IWPS house team joined village leaders of Deir Istiya and about 50 activists for an action in Wadi Qana. The activists are part of a group named Safar that plans monthly trips to various regions of the West Bank. The goal of their trips is to to learn the various effects of the occupation on the lives of Palestinians. The activists are from various regions including Jerusalem, Haifa, and Gaza; many are studying in Ramallah. The students and IWPS as well as several members of the village worked picking up litter around the picnic area of Wadi Qana. The Deir Istyia municipality has placed litter bins in the area, but the Israeli Occupation Forces have confiscated them.
IWPS has worked in solidarity with Deir Istyia to raise awareness internationally about the order by the Israeli Occupation Forces to uprrot 2000 Olive trees. Our work has included a petition signed by more than 6000 people, liasoning with Palestinian and international organizations to raise awareness and put pressure on the Israeli government to revoke the order to uproot the trees, and showing solidarity with the farmers of Deir Istyia with our presence in Wadi Qana.
IWPS joined the Safar activists in a march which led to an incline very close to the encroaching settlement of Qarne Shomron, one of 9 illegal settlements that ring the Wadi Qana valley. Activists waved flags and chanted anti occupation slogans, the first direct action demonstration in Wadi Qana since the order was given to uproot the trees, though the refusal of the farmers to uprrot their trees is in itself an act of resistance.
At the demonstration the students held various flags representing Palestine and other Arab countries and chanted slogans of freedom and revolution. Surprisingly, there was no military intervention and though we were well aware that we were being watched by the settlement: the settlers and their security, we were not harassed. After about 30 minutes the group returned to a shaded olive grove where we were all treated to picnic put together by the village of Deir Istyia. The day ended with a round circle discussion on what the day meant to the people of Safar… then singing by some very talented members of their group.

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On May 13, IWPS house met with a representative of al Zaytouna

“Olive trees say to the world we are Palestinian and we own this land”

R tells us “there is an olive tree on my land that is between 2000-3000 years old.” Generations of Palestinian farmers transfer their knowledge about tending their trees from father to son: ´I learned from my father, my father learned from his father … each learning from his father about how to keep these trees. My son is 8 years old now and after school and during school holidays I take him to our land and teach him about these trees.”

Most Palestinian families depend on the income derived from olive oil from their trees. Traditionally, the olive harvest marked a significant date in their calendar as farmers would wait for the harvest to pay their bills. It is hard work but a joyous community occasion. Important life events such as weddings were also scheduled around the harvest. Olive oil is also often bartered for other goods through the year. R tells me it is the Palestinian “petrol.”

In April 2012, farmers in Wadi Qana were ordered to uproot 2000 olive trees. This order was issued to ten farmers but more than 80 people are affected by it. More than 1000 trees were uprooted in 2011. In recent times, at least 50 families have been directly impacted by orders to remove their olive trees. Olive trees aged between 3-12 years of age produce 5000 kgs of olives. At maturity, they can produce 15 tonnes of fruit.

Wadi Qana has been a fertile farming valley for centuries and the farmers are not about to give this up. Now, the nine settlements including Nofim, Yaqir, Immanuel, Qarne Shomron and Ma´ale Shomron crown the rim of this beautiful valley. Several small outposts indicate that the settlements are expanding. The Israeli government wants to turn Wadi Qana into a nature reserve.

Farmers in Wadi Qana have been receiving orders to uproot their trees from 1986 but this has not deterred them. Around 1999, the trees started dying and water tests proved that more than 70% of the water supply was severely polluted from sewage waste pumped down from the settlements. A few hundred trees died. Sewage pipes were eventually put in to pump the sewage out. The farmers returned and continued to replant their trees. Wadi Qana is a fertile valley filled with fruit orchards including almond, fig, pomegranate and citrus. In recent decades, farmers have started to replace fruit trees that had reached the end of their life with olive trees. Olive trees are hardy and require little water or attention apart from irrigation during their first three years to establish. Furthermore, as R tells me, the farmers plant these trees as an investment and as a way to keep their lands from the settlements.

The farmers´ story left me with an acute sense of Palestinian resilience. They would continue to replant their trees irregardless of how frequently they were uprooted. My thoughts turn constantly however, to that magnificent old olive tree by the settlement road in Zone C and I said a silent prayer to keep it safe.

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On April 30th, IWPS house team, along with internationals and Israeli activists, kept a 24 hour presence with the farmers of Wadi Qana who have been given orders that at 2000 olive trees are to be uprooted by May 1, 2012. We spent the night making plans for the following day. We didn’t know if the military would carry out the order on the next day… this is form of psychological torture… not knowing when this atrocious order to kill 2000 trees will be carried out. However, we assumed that with such a strong international presence, the military would hold off. If that be the case, we decided that we would clean the Wadi Qana springs picnic area and plant more olive trees. We arrived at this conclusion after much debate and many cups of miramiya tea!

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(From IWPS historial records)

Wadi Qana – History, Pollution, and Resistance

More than 30 women from the Salfit area gathered in Wadi Qana on March 30, 2005, Palestinian Land Day, to celebrate their land and protest its destruction by Israel’s impending Wall and pollution from settlements. Land Day commemorates the 1976 killing of six Palestinians in the Galilee by Israeli troops during peaceful protests over the confiscation of Palestinian lands.
Protesters gathered near the polluted water carrying signs and flags against the Israeli military occupation and the Apartheid Wall. Despite the noxious smells, the women were enthusiastic and focused, chanting and singing as journalists and photographers clicked away on their cameras. Women of all ages and colors stood together in defense of their land and the freedom it represents.
There was no army present until the demonstrators sat down to rest and eat and an army jeep pulled up and parked above the peaceful women. One child began to cry from fear, and her mother tried to comfort her. Suddenly some of the younger women began to cheer and sing, and as the other demonstrators joined in, the child stopped crying; the women had taken back control. The protesters left shortly after, with the army still parked and watching.

Why Wadi Qana?

Wadi Qana is a place almost as soothing as it is beautiful: a fertile valley with seven main natural springs and nine smaller ones, and the endless Wadi Qana river running through it. The river meanders from Huwara, south of Nablus, to Jaljuliye, south of Qalqilya, and then flows into the Yarqon, or Naher el Ooja River. Wadi Qana is between two ranges of hills, making it very suitable for citrus plantations. Indeed, the orange trees and lemon trees spread along the river and shine in the morning sun.

One of the local farmers harvesting oranges, Abu N, is particularly enthusiastic about the richness of the yield and offers the visitors delicious oranges of the “Valencia” and “Fransiya” sort, the latter being sweeter and smaller.
Wadi Qana is also the name of a village that was emptied of its inhabitants because life became simply intolerable. Its former residents now live in Deir Istya, a village in the Salfit district that historically contained all of the current Israeli settlement land that now surrounds Wadi Qana. Deir Istya is now only a tiny fraction of its original size.

The beauty of the Wadi Qana valley hides rampant pollution that has plagued the village since the surrounding Israeli settlements were built. Sewage pours down the hillsides into the valley, some through pipes and some directly onto the landscape.
The settlement of Imanu’el, built in 1982 to the east of Wadi Qana, poisons the entrance of the valley. Just off the main road, there is a large grey-colored pool. Once an active water source, now greyish bubbles rise to the surface. Nearby is a filtration/recycling station built in 1985, which was always far from sufficient to recycle the constant sewage, most of which pours from Imanu’el’s houses and agricultural industries.

Ironically, this valley has been classified as a nature reserve by Israeli authorities. But the river is black and grey. The surrounding vegetation is dead.

South of the valley, Yaqir stands as two settlements, one built in 1982 and the other in 1987. Yaqir sends sewage down a lateral pipe into the valley. This pipe is too small for its content and from the beginning it has been overflowing into the valley. The first spring that was contaminated by Yaqir is called Ein el Joze, “the source of the nut tree.” Another polluted spring nearby was once called Ein al Maghassel, “the source of the washing place,” where women came during Ottoman times to wash clothes and carpets.
To the north, two settlements—Nevi Menachem, built in 1987, and Karnei Shomron, built in 1978—and one outpost—Nov Qana, built in 2002—release their sewage down into this precious valley.
To the west, the settlement Ginot Shomron, built in 1983, closes the circle around the valley.

Besides pollution, Palestinans must deal with other factors harming their land. The Karnei Shomron settlers have often raided the land in the valley, uprooted trees, damaged and destroyed irrigation systems, greenhouses, and especially expensive water pumps. Palestinian farmers cannot even prevent land damage caused by wild pigs that some locals fear were introduced by settlers: villagers are unable to kill or use traps to control the pigs as it would fall under the prohibition of Palestinians to possess weapons.

Deep in the valley there still exists a spring that has not been polluted. One local explains, “It was not a major spring before the environmental contamination, but now it is the only clear water source we have.” The running water, gathered in a concrete and stone basin surrounded by iron wire and a gate, refreshes visitors. “The settlers have tried to break the fence of the water collector”. The criminal raids of settlers who want to chase away the inhabitants are visible even here.

The area was once a spring of life: children went to school on foot to Deir Istya, five kilometers away (British rule had introduced school for all in 1923). The fruitful valley provided the village’s main sources of income: agriculture (oranges, lemons, plums, wheat, vegetables, chickpeas, and lentils) and animal farming (sheep, goats).

The mayor shows visitors the ruins of the house of his great grandfather and quotes the famous Zionist lie about “a country without people.” He was born here, raised in a lateral valley, west of Wadi Qana, called Khirbet el Shehadi. Another villager, now a member of the municipal council of Deir Istya, added that he and many others had lived there, grazed goats with his grandfather, drunk the water, and learned to swim in the river amidst the chalk rocks.
Around 350 people used to live in the valley until most of them were forced to leave in 1986. The ruins of their houses are still visible beneath the Karnei Shomron settlement. The mayor recounts a typical example of the army’s policy of eviction which happened to his uncle, Yusef Mansour: he built a house in the valley, only to have it demolished in 1982 by the Israeli army. He then placed a metal shack on his land but was never allowed to live in it. Only temporary life is possible here.

Wadi Qana, a paradise despite the ugliness of pollution, is being throttled by the ever growing presence of settlers. The “baggers” and bulldozers work daily, pounding the earth with their brutal thumps, perhaps to prepare for more settlers to come (Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s government decided in the last days of February 2005 to build six thousand more housing units in the West Bank).

A map showing the expected path of the wall reiterates that Israel claims this land. The same claim was made clear again as visitors to Wadi Qana were interrupted by a broad squatting military vehicle, demanding what pedestrians were doing there. Visiting was permitted.

One last image remains from near the only remaining fresh water spring. A eucalyptus tree rises from an old uprooted stem: a small sign of hope and strength.

Text: IWPS Team
Pictures: Dorothée and Hannah

Sources of information about Wadi Qana include the mayor of Deir Istya and a member of the municipal council of Deir Istya. For more information contact IWPS.

Copyright © 2005 by IWPS. All rights reserved.
This copyright protects IWPS’s right to future publication of our work. Non-profit, activist, and educational groups may circulate these reports and photos (forward them, reprint them, translate them, post them, or reproduce them) for non-profit uses consistent with the goals of IWPS and the Palestinian liberation movement. Please do not change any part of it without permission.

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Yesterday, May 2, I had a discussion with one of the farmers whose trees are under threat. M, a 50 year old husband and father of 3, is not the typical Deir Istyia farmer. He lives in Dubai and works as a businessman. He returns to Deir Istyia 2 times a year for 2-3 months; he comes in the spring when it is time to plow up the land around his trees, and in October for the harvest. He is also atypical in that he did not inherit the land, though it has been in his family for many years. The land, 7 dunums, belonged to his grandfather who left it to his son, M’s uncle. When the uncle wanted to sell it, M purchased it. His father cared for the land until he became too feeble, at which time M took over. He made an agreement with a trusted farmer who has many trees in Wadi Qana; this farmer would plant the land with olive and fig trees. This farmer would also take care of the land and trees during the year. If this farmer satisfied the agreement with M. through 10 years, a quarter of the land along with the trees planted on it would become his. There is no official documentation for this. M has the ownership papers for the land, and in 10 years time (5 have already passed) the two men will walk the land, each with an impartial party, and M. will choose the three quarters of land he wishes to retain and the other farmer will take ownership of what remains.

M exports the olives and the oil to Dubai where it is much prized for its taste and purity. But he doesn’t have to come back to Dier Istyia. He has someone who takes care of his land for him throughout most of the year. I asked him why he comes every year to plow the land himself and again to make the harvest. He said, “I feel when I water them, when I dig the earth, I am happy. They (the trees) are like children.” I asked him what he will do if the army comes to uproot his trees. He said he will go to the trees.

There is nothing he will be able to do to prevent the Israeli Occupation Forces from uprooting his trees. But, as M. said, they are like children.

And if your children are to die, well, I guess you have to be there.

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On the 19th of April, IWPS house team went on a relaxing walk through the Wadi Qana valley with some long time friends of IWPS. You can read about it below, along with other reports that have been written about the Wadi Qana.
As picturesquely written in that article, the Wadi Qana valley is as about as close to nature as one can get. There is native flora and fauna, eucalyptus and carob trees, terraced hillsides of Olive trees, and verdant citrus groves that seem to blossom with an intoxicating scent year around. Natural springs abound and villagers from Deir Istyia have enjoyed the valley with their families for hundreds of years. The villagers have also tended the olive and citrus groves for hundreds of years, working with nature to keep the valley pristine and sustainable.
The illegal settlements that now surround the Wadi Qana and dump raw sewage are a threat to the valley, and their ticky tac houses are an eyesore. But the Israeli government has decreed the area a “natural preserve” and under this guise has appropriated land and bulldozed hundreds of olive trees since 2002. Now, in an unconscionable act, on April 25, the Israeli Occupation forces invaded the Wadi Qana and left orders that 10 farmers destroy a total of 1,400 olive trees by May 1, 2012. This is the largest evacuation of trees ever perpetuated on the Wadi Qana Valley.

Villagers, IWPS, and other international and Israeli activists have mobilized a global campaign to save these trees and the livelihood they provide to the farmers and their families. It cannot be stressed enough that these groves do not hinder the natural beauty of the valley. What hinders the beauty are the illegal settlements and their  raw sewage and their machine gun toting settlers.

On April 27, hundreds of villagers and activists gathered in the valley; after midday prayers we were taken on an informational nature walk through the valley. We were shown some of the olive trees slated for destruction.  Most of the 1,400 trees are around 5 years old; a few were planted 2 years ago and some are about 7 years old. They targeted groves are dispersed throughout the valley. Ironically, it is only olive trees that are to be uprooted. As of yet, there is no order to demolish the citrus groves.
The villagers of Deir Istyia have vowed that they will not uproot their trees, even though they face heavy fines and or imprisonment if they do not. Beginning on April 30th, villagers and international and Israeli Activists will begin a 24 hour vigil in the valley to protect these precious trees from destruction.

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Long time friends of IWPS, N and Z, invited us to the take an afternoon break with them in the Wadi Qana. The Wadi Qana is the major agricultural area for the village of Deir Istiya, a valley abundant with natural springs and indigenous wild flowers and edible plants. The scent of orange blossoms from the citrus groves are intoxicating, and there always seem to be both blossoms and oranges, as well as a farmer giving away the delicious fruit to us when we visit the valley.  The  hillsides are terraced with the famous Palestinian olive trees, grown here for centuries by the people of Deir Istiya. The only thing that spoils the view are the illegal settlements that continue to expand on the hills above the valley, often dumping their raw sewage into the valley, polluting the springs and destroying the agriculture.
But on this day our focus was not on the settlements or their encroachment on Palestinian land. We were there to enjoy the Wadi Qana, to let it absorb the hardship of the occupation and perhaps most importantly, offer a reprieve from the sadness N and Z’s daughter, L., was suffering from losing a pet that IWPS had given her several years ago. (and that is a story in itself which we won’t go into!)

We had lunch at our host’s home before we went: sumptuous stuffed grape leaves with traditional Palestinian bread, but L would not touch her food. She sat at the table looking absorbed in her pain. However, as we made our way into the valley her entire attitude changed. She became animated, tussling with her older brother and skipping rocks across a spring fed pond.  It was wonderful to see her smiling again!
N. is an expert at gathering edible native plants and she stuffed a pocket of my backpack with greens she said would be good in an omelet, as well as wild mint and miramyira ( a favorite in tea when the weather is chilly).

Z. obviously a lover of nature, took pictures of the many flowers growing this time of the year.
There is a natural swimming hole that villagers have used for recreation in times past, but often, as was the case today, settler youth had taken  over the pool. Usually, they swim in the nude, an embarrassment to the modest villagers of Deir Istyia. We came upon them, then quickly left the area, beginning our journey back toward the entrance of the valley. The settlers might call the military to alert them that Palestinians were in the Wadi Qana, and soldiers would be a hassle. On our return trip, a local farmer of orange trees insisted we sit under his sweet smelling trees and treated us to oranges. Many oranges!

After we left the valley, we had yet another treat in store. N. who has for years dreamed of building her own home “in the country” where she would have enough land to cultivate trees and crops, is seeing her dream become a reality. The foundation has been laid for the family’s new home.  They have electricity and water, and have already begun their garden. A large stone -several feet in diameter, was “in the way” of the garden, but their daughter absolutely refused it to be moved. So Z spent hours chipping away at it to create a natural planter for herbs.
Z carries with him in his car… well… just about everything a person could need, including all the makings for a pot of tea. While the sun was going down we sat on a flat stone outcrop near their nascent home and shared sweet mint tea with our beautiful Palestinian friends.

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