Municipalities and Councils - Australians for Palestine

Building Bridges in the Jordan Valley
Building International Networks of Resistance to
Support the Jordan Valley
A group of 15 activists walk into a
Waitrose supermarket in Brighton,
England. Gathering in the fruit and
vegetable aisle, they reach into a
rucksack and pull out a tent draped in
Palestinian flags. Several activists begin
pitching the tent, while others unfurl a
banner that reads: “Palestine Solidarity
Settlement.” They fill baskets with Israeli
goods and distribute information about
boycotting Israeli products. Included
in their literature is information about
the recent demolition of 23 Palestinian
homes in the village of Al Farisiya, in the
occupied Jordan Valley.
Meanwhile in Farisiya, another group
of activists have gathered, this time in
International volunteers working on a construction site in the
Jordan Valley.
52
By Jordan Valley Solidarity Group
a house made of mud. They are putting
the final touches on 12 homes that will
be given to families who have been
denied the right to adequate housing
by the Israeli occupation. All the homes
are located in Area C, where Israel has
forbidden Palestinians to build structures
or renovate infrastructure. The homes
have been built without permits, as an
act of resistance against the Israeli
occupation.
From the aisles of Waitrose to the mud
houses of Al Farisiya, the Jordan Valley
Solidarity Campaign is building a global
movement to resist Israel’s policies of
ethnic cleansing in the Jordan Valley.
Through a combination of international
advocacy and direct action, the Campaign
is working to expose the silent Nakba,
which has been taking place for the past
44 years in the Jordan Valley, and to build
the capacity of local communities to exist
and resist.
The partnership between activists in
Brighton and the Jordan Valley began
in 2005 when a representative from the
Jordan Valley visited Brighton as part of
a Palestinian delegation. After talking
together about the boycott and the sale
of Israeli goods from illegal settlements in
the Jordan Valley to the UK, they started
working together to collect information on
settlement produce. The delegate from
the Jordan Valley returned to the UK
to give evidence in the UK courts after
activists from Brighton shut down the
Israeli Carmel Agrexco packing house,
near London, for the day to protest its
illegal activities in the occupied Jordan
Valley. This was the start of a series
of exchange visits between activists in
Brighton and activists from the Jordan
Valley and marked the start of the
Brighton Tubas Friendship and Solidarity
Group. This friendship links universities,
schools, and sports centres in both the
occupied Jordan Valley and Brighton, UK.
In 2006 a delegation from Sussex
University went to the Jordan Valley and
started the first Brighton Tubas Friendship
and Solidarity project on the ground in the
Jordan Valley. Local community members
Building work on Vittorio Solidarity School, 2011, with the participation of American volunteers.
and Brighton students first drew plans in
the sand for a new school in the village.
Today this school has more than 110
students and 8 teachers.
Over the years the relationship
strengthened and support grew for
the campaign in Palestine and the
UK. This international partnership has
since worked on a variety of projects,
including linking water pipes to villages
and building four new solidarity schools.
In addition, the partnership has continued
to spread information globally.
The Jordan Valley runs along the
eastern edge of the West Bank, from
Ein Gedi near the Dead Sea in the south
to Bardala and the 1967 armistice line
in the north, and from the Jordan River
in the east to the mountain slopes that
run the length of the West Bank in the
west. The area is about 24,000 km2,
and is rich with ground water and other
natural resources. The Jordan Valley
was occupied by Israel in 1967 during
the Six-Day War, or Naksa, and remains
under military occupation to this day.
Ninety-five percent of the land in the
53
Jordan Valley was designated as Area C
during the Oslo Accords, which means
that it is under full Israeli civil and military
control. Palestinians living in Area C are
not allowed to build infrastructure or
renovate existing structures. They are
denied access to water and prevented
from moving freely in the region. Through
a combination of land confiscation, home
demolitions, daily harassment, and
restrictions on water and other resources,
Israel is committing a process of ethnic
cleansing in the Jordan Valley. During the
past 44 years the Palestinian population
of the Jordan Valley decreased by over 80
percent, from 300,000 in 1967 to 56,000
today. Were the population to continue
to decrease at this rate there would be
no Palestinians left in the Valley by the
year 2020.
The Jordan Valley Solidarity Campaign
is working to create new “facts on
the ground” in the Jordan Valley by
resisting Israel’s colonial and apartheid
policies. By defying Israel’s restrictions on
building in Area C the Campaign seeks
to challenge the systematic displacement
of Palestinian communities and to
help Jordan Valley residents remain
steadfast on their land. By building
international networks of solidarity, the
Campaign helps to globalise resistance