Khalid Arar from Salfeet meeting Sal Brinton
I had the privilege of meeting Khalid Arar from Salfeet on the West Bank on Thursday, with Mike Barnes and Keith Douglas of the Watford Friends of Salfeet. Khalid manages the Palestinian Medical Relief Service in the Salfeet District, organising the doctors, nurses and supplies for the various regular village clinics.
For some time now there has been increasing worry about the activity of the illegal Israeli settlements which have been taking more and more land from the residents of Salfeet, especially their fields and olive groves, on which they rely for income. In Watford we've recently set up a campaign to fund more olive trees for them.
However, Khalid had a text on Thursday when we were meeting in the House of Lords, saying that bulldozers were working in Deir Istiya (part of Salfeet) to flatten land for expansion of Rebaba settlement, destroying more of the olive groves. It is outrageous that this is allowed to happen. and yet gets no publicity or official international support for the Palestinian farmers.
We also talked about the delay to building the new school Deir Baloot: some months ago the building of the new school was stopped by Israel because it was being built in Area C. (Area C is a notorious part of the West Bank where Israel refuse to allow the Palestinian Authority to manage their own internal affairs, and where land incursions are at their worst.) Education is vital, and should not be in the gift - or denial - of another nation.
I shall be asking a question in the House about why the new demolition in Deir Istiya was allowed to happen, and what the Israeli authorities propose to do to not just halt the demolition, but to return the land to the farmers who own and farm it. Their olive oil is wonderful for us a customers, but to the farmers and their families, it is their livelihood which is at risk in an already almost impossible situation.
