Students waiting to take the daily trip to school

By Hanadi Dwaikat, IOL Correspondent

WEST BANK, September 14 (IslamOnline.net) – It used to be such a tranquil breathtaking village where leaves rustle in the olive breeze.

Now, the grass is no longer green and trees have been uprooted. Israel has started laying the foundation of four of its settlements while its illegal separation wall was enough to cut off Zahr Al-Malih and annex its fertile ground to what is now Israel.

Just 25 kilometers northwest of the northern West Bank city of Jenin along the UN-demarcated Green Line, the village has lost its glamour as it has been swallowed by grotesque cement blocs.

"Once you step in the village, you are faced with an Israeli barricade," Mustafa Al-Khatib, a university student, said angrily.

"Now you have to be well-connected or supported by human rights organizations to enter the onetime village," he added sarcastically.

Khatib told IslamOnline.net that the odyssey to enter the village started with humiliating body search that often takes the shape of banditry.

4 Settlements & a Wall

Encircled by Israel’s settlements and separation wall

Haj Saleh Al-Khatib has had his land confiscated by Israeli authorities. Now he can hardly single it out from sprawling four Jewish settlements.

"The village is absorbed by the settlements: To the East, you have the key Shakid settlement, Tal Mansha to the West, Hananiet to the North in addition to the separation wall in the South."

"The wall and the paralyzing Israeli siege have left us isolated from the entire world let alone intermittent settlers' attacks on our homes and properties," Khatib told IOL.

The village also lacks basic infrastructure. A mosque and a school are something of a luxury.

Israeli occupation authorities have denied the Palestinian natives permission to build a school under the feeble excuse of its relatively small 140,000 population, according to Ghaleb Al-Khatib, the head of the village's projects committee.

Palestinian students have to go all the way to a faraway school, sometimes on foot.

"Going to school is a drudgery for students, particularly after the construction of the West Bank wall," Ghaleb said.

One of the settlements overlooking the village

To add salt to injury, recent statistics have showed that unemployment is running at a mind-boggling 75 percent.

The village is also running out of food supplies and has actually one grocery to meet the demands of its residents.

"Israeli occupation soldiers have prevented us from using gas lams, fearing that we might make an explosive charge. Now we cook on fire," said grocer Ahmed Al-Khatib.

The UN General Assembly demanded Israel on July 20 to abide by the International Court of Justice's ruling and tear down the separation wall, but Tel Aviv defiantly pledged to pursue the construction.

Hawkish Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon further gave a "new push" to its settlement program in defiance of the internationally-backed roadmap peace plan by approving the construction of 600 new settlements in the West Bank.