Ram Rahat, leader of the Park in a Cage’ campaign, explained to the Palestine Monitor that the policies are “geared toward creating a situation where it is impossible for people to live here.” Most of the residents of Nabi Samwil hold green IDs, prohibiting them from entering Jerusalem and the rest of Israel. However, there is nothing physically preventing their entry. There is no barrier, no wall, and no checkpoints. While Israeli authorities have physically cut Nabi Samwil off from the West Bank, the state has not offered residents the option of working in Jerusalem or Israel. If caught across the Green Line, green ID holders face fines and prison sentences, both increasing each time they are caught. Essentially, residents are “living in an invisible cage,” according to Daniela Telmon, a lecturer of Middle Eastern Studies at Hebrew University. Many residents of the village, most often the youth, take the risk in order to work in Israel, a there are extremely limited job opportunities in both Nabi Samwil and the West Bank. In 2013, the unemployment rate in the West Bank was 24%. On top of this absurd situation, the village of Nabi Samwil is located next the controversial E1 area east of Jerusalem, home to a number of Palestinian Bedouin communities. Although the Israeli settlement enterprise has long been determined to build in the area, settlement construction in E1 has been frozen since 2009 due to international pressure. Were construction in the area to continue, Israeli settlements would complete a circle around East Jerusalem, essentially cutting off Jerusalem, the proposed capital of any future Palestinian state, from the rest of the West Bank. Furthermore, settlements in E1 would essentially cut the West Bank in two, bisecting large swaths of Palestinian territory between Bethlehem and Jerusalem. ...
Posted on: Tue, 18 Mar 2014 15:29:57 +0000
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