Report # 1
November 2002
Life amidst the Apartheid Wall: Case Studies
The Village of Jayous
Considering that the actual groundwork and building of the Wall has already begun in the northern are of and around Qalqiliya, much of the detailed information that exists to date is for the Qalqiliya District in general and the village of Jayous in particular.
Jayous village is situated east of Qalqiliya city and has around 3,000 inhabitants. Up to present, 8,600 dunums, or some 72% of Jayous’s lands, have been confiscated and will fall behind the Apartheid Wall, separating the residential area from its lands. Of the 3,000 inhabitants of Jayous, 70% are totally dependent on agriculture, while the other 30% are partially dependent. At least 300 families in Jayous will loose their only source of living and are hence subject to poverty, deprivation and famine.
Estimates produced by the Apartheid Wall Campaign Emergency Center in the Qalqiliya area breaks down the types of trees and agriculture that is to be confiscated within the 8,600 dunums as follows: 3,000 dunums of olive trees; 2,000 dunums of wheat, barley, and other grains; 1,200 dunums of citrus; 1,500 dunums of carob, avocado, almonds, and other trees; 500 dunums of open fields of vegetable; and 100 dunums of greenhouses.
The total loss per annum of produce of the abovementioned land is 250,000 boxes of citrus, 200,000 boxes of vegetables, and over 70 tons of olive oil. The repercussion to the unemployment of the village is such that 65,000 workdays per year will be lost.
In addition, of the 7 wells to be confiscated and to be behind the Wall in the Jayous area, 3 of them are the complete property and used solely for Jayous, 2 are used jointly with the adjacent village of Falamya , and 2 with the town of Qalqiliya.
By the 31st of October 2002, 750 olive trees had been uprooted in Jayous. It is expected that the total number of tress to be uprooted in lands belonging to Jayous and the adjacent Falamya to be around 20,000.
Measuring from the built-up area (residential) area of Jayous until the Green Line is 6 kilometers, all of which is land that is to be confiscated. The 6 kilometers is also significant in that it is the same width of the Gaza Strip.
To further put things in perspective, the catastrophic losses that Jayous is and will face, as described above, represents only 5% of all the losses for the first phase of the Apartheid Wall. Therefore, Jayous’ losses in land and agriculture represent less than 2% of all the losses that will be incurred due to the entire Apartheid Wall.
