West Bank village faces demolition

by Katya Adler

When school began this month, the children of Akkaba in the northern West Bank did not just have the usual concerns of a new school year.

They had the added grave worry that any day their school may be demolished. The Israeli army says Akkaba is in a "militarised zone" and was built without planning permission. It therefore views the village as illegal and has handed out dozens of demolition orders.

The army handed the demolition order to the kindergarten - built with British, Norwegian and US aid - before the start of term.

One of the school's teachers, Othman al-Ghoury, said the order, though extremely worrying, did not come as a surprise.

"All the buildings in this village suffer the same situation. They are expected to be demolished. The school, the kindergarten, the mosque, the clinic and all the houses," Mr Ghoury said.

Perched on a hill in the arid Jordan valley, Akkaba is a perfect example of the daily Palestinian experience which Tony Blair needs to improve under his brief as international Middle East envoy.

At the soon-to-be-demolished village clinic, also built with British money, a weeping Naime Dabek was being comforted by friends - her house had just been served with its demolition order.

"I'm going to sit in the house and let them pull it down on top of me," she told us. "I'll poison myself and die. Where would I go? I'm a widow. I have no-one."

Planning permission

The Palestinian Authority has varying degrees of control in the West Bank, but Israel ultimately controls the Occupied Territories.

The Israeli army, in occupation of the area since it seized it in the 1967 war, restricts all travel with more than 500 checkpoints, roadblocks and earth mounds, which it says are necessary to prevent Palestinian militant attacks and suicide bombings.

The army also has the power to issue demolition orders in conjunction with the civil authorities. But Akkaba's mayor, Sami Sadek said the village had been around for generations.

In a statement to the BBC however, the army said the village sprung up only a few years ago, in a militarised zone, and that's why it had issued the demolition orders.

Forbidden from building an office, Mr Sadek, put his desk under a shady carob tree and villagers gather round him on plastic chairs, smoking, drinking coffee and discussing their difficulties.

"Our main problem is Israel's occupation," Mr Sadek told us. "It's not just about construction. We're not even on the water or electricity grid here. Israel can literally wipe us off the map."

With no mains water supply here, the families of Akkaba pay individually for a water tanker to come to their homes. Otherwise their taps would run dry.

Running dry

Munjid Sbeh, a farmer, has eight children.

"The fact that we have to buy water affects us financially - instead of spending the money on our children's education or clothing for them, we have to buy water. Our farm is not stable," Mr Sbeh said.

"This situation means our older children are going to cities like Jenin, Nablus and Ramallah for work instead of working here on the farm. We face huge obstacles."

The United Nations monitors all the Occupied Territories. Adeeb Salman, a UN humanitarian affairs officer, is a regular visitor to Akkaba.

"The majority of Palestinians are facing the same problems as this village. Israel controls every aspect of life in the West Bank," he said.

"Their infrastructure, their schools, their daily life. This will hinder any development, any hope. Any improvement of life for the Palestinians must have the co-operation of the Israeli authorities."

If Tony Blair wants his mission to improve Palestinian lives on behalf of the international community, more aid and better governance by the Palestinian Authority will not quite do it. What are needed are political solutions.

BBC News