Aboud Losing Land

Today (Sunday) I travelled to a quiet village located in the "west bank" between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv and west of Ramallah. The village is composed of two families. One family with a branch of five streams forms the Catholic Church and the other family forms the Orthodox Church. I worshipped at the Catholic Church which was full to standing room only,and then ajourned to meet everyone after worship in the parish hall.




Last October the military arrived in the village and called a meeting to tell the local families that the military was seizing 1,250 acres of land to build a security fence to protect the nearby Israeli settlement from them. The route of the fence which is under construction snakes its way through the surrounding valleys and hills.



This fence is separating the farmers from their olive trees and their grazing pastures. The locals have been told that there will be a security gate for their use. The locals are not reassured because they know the same "trick" was applied in a nearby village and after two years and very few permissions granted to pass through the gate, it was permantently locked.



The priest and a man from the congregation explained that 25% of Israel's underground water aquafers are located around the village of Aboud and they are certain the "land grab" will also include the water sources they too depend upon. They toured us around the village lands so we could see for ourselves. Approximately 5,000 olive trees have been cut down by soldiers and settlers for "security purposes."



Unemployment is already very high, running close to 70%, with little future for young people especially. They need to hold tight to their land if they are to survive.



I learned that they need people from other countries to make it known what is happening inside Israel. They want us to know how their lives are being rapidly changed for the worse due to circumstances beyond their control. Our Christian sisters and brothers here feel forgotten by the world.