Palestinian residents of the Jordan Valley village of Jiftlik, joined by the Palestinian Minister of Agriculture, Ismail Du'ek, defied Israeli restrictions on development in Area C by repairing roughly one kilometer of roads inside their town. Jiftlik, the largest town in the Jordan Valley is home to 5,000 people and is located entirely in Area C where Israel largely forbids Palestinian development.

Area C, one of the key bones of contention between Israel and the Palestinians stretches over sixty percent of the total area of the West Bank. Under the Oslo Accords the entire Jordan Valley was classified as Area C with the exception of the Jericho enclave.

For more details: Fathi Khdeirat +972599352266 | media@popularstruggle.org

Israel consistently uses planning law, the building permit application process and house demolitions to threaten Palestinians and remove them from their land in Area C generally, and in the Jordan Valley specifically. According to Israeli organization Peace Now, between January 2000 and September 2007 Israel issued just 91 construction permits to Palestinians in Area C, which amounts to just 6% of all applications handed at the time. During the same period 18,472 houses were built for settlers, while nearly 5,000 demolition orders were issued against Palestinian structures and 1,663 demolitions were carried out. The vast majority of demolitions in the West Bank are now taking place in East Jerusalem and the Jordan Valley.

When Israel occupied the Jordan Valley in 1967, 320,000 people resided in the area. Today, following the continued Israeli campaign of creeping ethnic cleansing, only 56,000 Palestinians still reside in the Valley on a permanent basis. Many others settle in the Valley on a seasonal basis, moving down to it to cultivate their lands and graze herds.