Ahmad Barghouth strolls through his orchard, among olive trees, wild vines and fruit trees. The view of the Jerusalem conurbation is breathtaking, but scarred by a metal and barbed wire fence five meters high. There, on June 16, 2002, in full intifadawith deadly suicide attacks in Israelin the village of Al-Walaja, near Bethlehem, the Israeli army was beginning the construction of a wall between Israel and the occupied West Bank, made of concrete or barbed wire.
Today, this wall is more than 500 kilometers long, it has improved the security situation but it has separated the two peoples and complicated the life of the Palestinians.
“When they started building this wall, we lost almost four hectares that belonged to our family, half of which is on the other side of the wall. They took a hill with more than 130 olive trees.”
Ahmad Barghouth, farmerat franceinfo
A road winds along the fence on the Israeli side, reserved for the army for its patrols. The Barghouth family cemetery is located there, but it is impossible to meditate on the graves of the ancestors. The grower’s grandson is an electrician and works in Israel, a kilometer away as the crow flies. At 30, he has only known military roadblocks. “It’s depressing, so depressing, he sighs. It’s a very difficult feeling. When you’re here, you see, and you want to go very close, you make a long trip of more than an hour: I’ve experienced it so often. You leave from Al-Walaja to Beit Jala, then Bethlehem. Et there, you arrive at the checkpoint, you pass the controls and you need a minimum of one hour!”
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Twenty years ago, terrorism ravaged Israel. The wall and the Israeli-Palestinian security cooperation still in force have improved things, but for 20 years, the younger generations no longer meet or know each other. Much to the regret of Israeli activist Atalya Ben Abba.
“The wall also separates people mentally: you don’t know what’s going on, you don’t know anyone, you can’t see those places you shouldn’t go. People are scared…”
Atalya Ben Abbaat franceinfo
Ahmad, 75, hopes to see the wall and prejudices come down: “We don’t believe in a two-state solution, nor do we want to live under occupation, he points out. Of course, we don’t want to throw the Jews into the sea as the Israelis claim and anyone who wants to live with us in respect will be welcome. We want equal and fair rights for everyone.”
Security wall for the Israelis, apartheid wall for the Palestinians: the work is still not completed, and must be renovated in places, cost a billion euros.