Life in An Nu’man

Life in An Nu’man

West Bank Village Annexed into Israel

I would like to introduce you to Siham.  She lives in the village of An Nu’man just north east of Bethlehem with her husband and three children.  From the hill top where they are living in a converted barn, you can see across to the village where she grew up.  Siham can go to visit her mother, but her mother can not come to visit her or to help if the children are sick.  Because a fence has been built up around An Nu’man and no one is allowed in except the ones who live in the village and people with international passports. 

Between Siham’s home and her childhood home there is an Israeli Settlement and a nice road that takes one quickly to Bethlehem and Jerusalem and if someone in the Settlement becomes ill, an ambulance has no trouble to go to the house and offer aid.  If Siham were to need an ambulance, the ambulance must wait at the gate with the soldier at the bottom of two long, steep hills for Siham to come to the ambulance.  Siham and her husband are young and their children are healthy, so we pray that they do not ever need an ambulance.

But why must they live in a converted barn?

In the states sometimes people find old stone barns, spend a lot of money and turn them into lovely homes because they want to do it.  But that is not why Siham lives in a barn.  She lives with her family in a barn because the Israeli Army demolished her perfectly good house.  There was only time to get the furniture out from one room before the demolition began.  Some things however, were rescued and are stored under a tent in hopes of having a house again.  In the meantime, they rent a barn to live in.

Buildings in existence before 1967 are supposed to be exempt from these demolition orders, but there seems to be some exceptions even to this safe haven.

           

How does all this come to be?

1.  After 1967 Israel annexed the land of the village into Israel but did not make the inhabitants citizens of Israel.  They can continue to reside there, but they are illegal residents in their own homes living in isolation from their friends, neighbors and families—behind a fence with a guard to keep everyone out.

2.  As a practical matter, Palestinians cannot receive building permits for homes or home improvements.  But any building done without a permit is subject to demolition.  There are many demolition orders pending that can be implemented at any time.  The current practice is to give people a window of time in which to remove their belongings and demolish their own home.  If they do not, they are charged the cost of demolition and will probably not be able to remove many of their belongings.

So, in conclusion…

Anything Siham and her family build to live in will be subject to demolition because they will not be given a building permit.  But even so, EAPPI and other international and Israeli groups are looking for ways to help build a new house for this family.

What to can one say about a system that reaches out and annexes the land of a village into its own country, but tells the 200 people living in the village that they are just not part of the deal.  We want your land, but not you!!  And, then builds a fence around them and sets soldiers to guard the gate so no one, except foreigners, can visit without special permits—not even an ambulance or a grandmother.  Surely this action has to do with something other than National Security.

And when one Israeli group demolishes a house in a small village because there was no building permit and another Israeli group looks for ways to build the house gain—still without a building permit so the house will be subject to demolition again, but probably not for 5 or 10 years.  How does this benefit “National Security” for the State of Israel?  If there is any benefit to anyone, it is to those who produce and sell building supplies.

Please contact your Senators and Representatives and ask them to use their influence to get Israel to refrain from these practices that do not increase Israeli National Security, but only bring grief to families.

                                                From an EA who is also a mother and grandmother

                                                Sharon, Group 40