Untitled - Ipam

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settlers. By now more than half the West Bank’s area is controlled by Israeli
and settlers, through controlling the Jordan Valley area and expanding the
settlements on Palestinian land.
Olive trees and olive oil are symbols of the Palestinian resistance to this
invasion of their homeland. Palestine is famous for its planting of olive
trees, with olives and olive oil staples of the Palestinian kitchen since
ancient times. The Educational Forum is held during the season of olive
harvest which is threatened by the burning and destruction of olive groves
and the stealing of olives by the Zionist settlers. Without international
awareness and presence in these rural farming areas, the farmers are left
defenseless to these attacks and fear the consequences of fighting back.
Furthermore the West Bank suffers from the building of the Separation
Wall on its land as well as its remoteness from and lack of connection to
the Gaza Strip. The presence of the Wall causes a mental and physical
separation of both the people and the land. The Wall has destroyed the
land and created high level of unemployment amongst the Palestinians
who can no longer access their jobs and livelihoods. The Wall was not
built on the border line but instead it was built to include settlements and
strategic resources and thereby making it even harder for the Palestinians
to create themselves a livelihood.
The West Bank that we see suffering from a scarcity of resources and
the Israeli occupation contains a great amount of Palestinian history and
tradition. Let us take, for example, Jericho which is considered the oldest
city in the world. This year it celebrates its 10,000th anniversary. There is
also Hebron, home to the Al Abrahimi mosque and the burial tombs of the
prophets, Bethlehem whose nativity church is a pilgrimage destination for
millions of Christians from all around the world, Sebastia near Nablus with
its Roman ruins and, Jerusalem with the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the
Al Aqsa mosque and the Dome of Rock.
Under this complex situation, the Palestinians in the West Bank still