8th, February 2008
Getting to Jaba'a villagem Bethlehem:
The day started early in the morning with the group heading to Jab’a Village, a little village south west of Bethlehem with a population of approximately 950 most of which are farmers.
The village has been targeted by the Israeli Occupation for many years especially by military orders of land confiscation. Read more
Meeting the farmer and his family:
We arrived at the field of Mr Izzat Abu Latifeh – Abu Taha, who has lost land for the nearby terminal which Israel is constructing on Al Jab’a village to further restrict the movement of the Palestinians; he tried to replant some of the uprooted olive trees, none of which have survived.
Abu Taha welcomed the group and thanked them for being with him and his family and then we started the planting.
We stayed with Abu Taha’s family for a couple of hours and planted as many trees as we could in a lovely atmosphere of hospitality and warmth. After that the group was thanked by the farmer and exchanged many wishes for a better future and hopes, one of which was that many will come back to cultivate the fruits of the olive trees that were planted today and hopes that they will survive the threats of the Israeli Occupation.
Al-Khader village protest:
Then, the group headed back to Bethlehem to witness some Palestinians from Al-Khader town protesting against the annexation of their farmland by the Construction of the wall as well as installing a gate through which the Occupation controls the movement of the Palestinians from Bethlehem towards the south of the West Bank. Read more about this matter at:
After witnessing the protest and experiencing the teargas and the occupation for once again, the group proceeded safely to the rehabilitation center of the YMCA in Beit Sahour for lunch that everyone enjoyed.
About JAI and advocacy planning:
Later in the day, the group had a workshop with the Joint Advocacy Initiative of the East Jerusalem YMCA and the YWCA of Palestine (JAI), in which they learnt about the advocacy work as well as the Olive Tree Campaign. The group got the chance to share their input about how to improve in the work for peace and justice for the people of Palestine. Many ideas were put forward and the group left with much enthusiasm to do advocacy work back home.
