welcome to the palestinian village of alacaba. it's in the northern jordan valley, it's a pastoral community where you'll find warm and generous. people, most of the people who live here raise sheep and goats and live off the land. you'd think life here would be relatively simple and uncomplicated, it's not, and this is our story.

jordan valley is the east part of the occupied westbank, it's the only gate, the only border for the palestinian to communicate with the international community, especially with the arab countries. the jordan valley is considered as the basket food for the palestinian people where you can harvest in the middle of winter, and this big area which is about 30% of the west bank also consider as as kind of uh nist for the future of the palestinian state? this village of al-aqaba is tiny, but at the same time, it's an excellent focal point for understanding the situation today on the west bank. in 1967, 2,000 people lived in this community. today, only scattered families remain. تورفناها عنرفتها عن ابوي وابوي عن جده وجده.

جده ت نوصل ل عثمان بن عفان دوله عثمانيه اللي حكمت هي البلد فوق ال 400 سنه هلا ايش مش ساكنين في العكبه احنا في الثمانينات كان في معسكر جيش هون هون بين ياسير والعقبه هسه يمنعونا نروحوا نيجي في الطريق شايف ما يخلوش يعني جنود انت عارف الجندي مش ادمي شايف هسه نحن نخاف على اولاد نخاف علىبنات على راح يجي وبعدين هناكونا ممنوع نبني بيت ممنوع نقعد اللي sea is as an enemy, hostile population effectively, as a population that is not welcome there, and so it's doing everything it can to make life very difficult for them. to understand the political situation today on the west bank, we have to go back to the year 1453. this was the point in history where the turks conquered the ancient city of على constantinople. now istanbul, and established

the adamman empire. for the next four centuries, the palestinian territory was ruled by the turks whose main interest was the collection of taxes. as such, the region's history was relatively unavantful, and it is during this period when many of the current alwaba residents settled. then during the first world war, the turkish government sided with the germans, decision, not smart, as germany was defeated and the ottoman empire subsequently broken apart. it was during this period that the british took control under what was called the british mandate. it was also during this period when european jews began to immigrate to the region under a political philosophy called في zionism. a desire to establish a jewish homeland. tensions grew between these immigrants and the native population and the british turn to the newly created united

nations to help sort out the problem they had helped create in the first place. in 1948, the un, in a vote of the general assembly created israel, and immediately a war broke out between israel and its arab neighbors. after series of brutal battles in which tens of thousands of palestinians fled, an armistice was established, and geordan took control of the area, known as the west bank, or west of the jordan river. then again in 1967 a war broke out between israel, jordan and egypt. israel decidedly won this conflict and in the process occupied the west bank, rusting control from jordan. this occupation continues today, and is the core of the ongoing struggle. in an effort to find resolution, series of secret talks took place in oslo, norway in 1993. the result was a plan to divide the west bank into three

areas: a, b, and c. area a, the major cities, such as romala and janin, would fall under palestinian civil and political control, area b would be jointly controlled, these areas being mostly areas containing medium-sized communities, and areas c would be the rural areas, primarily the jordan valley. under the accords, this division of land was to exist for five years, during which time final status agreement would be drawn. this agreement, however has never come about, and the division of land is still. very much in place and the palestinian population is constantly reminded of that fact, really for palestinians in area see, that the way that israel treats them is hostile population, it makes them their lives as difficult as possible, most of the population in areas see

palestinian population are rural communities based, the their livelihoods are based on agriculture, and so the two things they need more than anything else, land and water, this is this is what they need, the essential. their lives, and so what israel is doing is making both, taking both those elements away from them, it's restricting their access to their land, it's using various means to do that, it's confiscating lot of land, declaring it state land, it's creating military zones, firing zones, fifth of the area s firing zones, military firing zone, and the goal of course is to to remove them from their land in area c and move them into areas b and ideally into area a. no one exemplifies this. situation better than othman spay, growing up in al-aqaba, he was forced to move to the neighboring area b town of tayasir, he now commutes back to each day to supervise production in the community's organic d-cooperative, انا كنت عايش في اسره

في في بيتي يعني غرفتين اللي هم عقدين عقود قديمه, كنت انا وامي ابوي متوفي كنت انا امي وتسع اخوي لي تسعه وامي 10 عايشين في الغرففتين هذول وبقوا الاسرائيليين مانعيننا نبني غرفه نضيف عليهم او حتى حمام ممنوع احنا قالوا لنا هذول موجودت بظلين موجودات بدكم تعيشوا فيهم بدكم تعيشوا فيهم روحوا علىاسير على طوباس على نابلس عندنا مشكله المهم هذول بيظليه وخلص ما لكم شيء هون فاحنا صمدنا وظلينا هناك بس انا يوم تجوزت انجبرت اني اجي م اشتري وابني واقعد هون لانه ما في مجال لانه انا صار عندي عائله يعني فوق اخوتي تسعه صار عندي عائله وولاد اثنين صغار يعني بعد ما صار عندي اولاد اثنين صغار انجبرت اني اشتري واستقر وابني البيتره is it wants it all it wants the whole of the

west bank the question is whether it can get away with doing that and it certainly can't get away with doing it in one fell swoop so what it's doing is what famous israeli general called masshadayan called creeping annexation, it's slowly, incrementally taking the land away from the palestinians and it's focusing most of its efforts on the rural land, the agricultural land, um, the the largest part of the west bank, and so slowly area see is being ethnically cleansed, there are few and few palestinians. we know for instance that in 1967 there were about a third of million palestinians just in the jordan valley itself. today, the best figures we have suggest there are... around 100,000 palestinians in the whole of area see, so it's quite clear, it's a very graphic illustration of quite how effective the ethnic cleansing policies have been over over four or five decades, they really cleared the area out, think about it, just let us think that those palestinian bidwan families who

live in in almost about 52 communities without any kind of service, it's denied by the incubation to have even if fresh water, they can hear water running in the bibes under their feet, but they can't drink from it, the electricity wears is a crossing over their tent, but they can't, it's just for the zionist jewish colony in the jordan valley, people stay in the jordan valley because they feel that it's just the only place where they can have their own dignity, and those people who are staying without all kind of this service, they'... belong, they are part of the soil, they are part of the climate and they will never leave. many people over the years have moved out of alaqaba, but you stayed, why did you decide to stay when many people, many families have had to move away?

انا رايح اموت هون في العقبال وهي الارض هي عن ابا وجد طورتها هي ارض ابائي واجدادي اللي رحت ياسر ما له شيء لكن اللي له ارض الارض هي هي الدم ال انسان انا شو بدي اروح اسوي فيهات ياسير شو اللي فيها ياسير بدي اتفرج على الشوارع ولا اتفرج على الدور طيب هي ارضي وهي منطقتي وهي عيشتي وهي حياتي يعني شو شو بدي اروح اطي اعطيير شو بدي اروح اعمل فيها اروح على باريس اسكن في باريس ودش ارضي شو بدي اسوي فيها باريس والله عندي شايف العزيز الشجره هي بتسو باريس هورا اللي فيها بريطانيا is completely representative of the political climate existing today on the west bank,

there is a cornerstone of the village that makes it quite unique to itself, that uniqueness is first encountered as you drive up the main road into the village, in english enter with انا اسمي الحج سامي صادق رئيس مجلس قروي العقبه من مواليد 1955 وصبت بثلاث رصاصات من قبل قوات الاحتلال بتاريخ 28/6 عام 71 كان عمري في ذلك التاريخ 16 عاما مما ادى الى اصابتي بشلل نصفي تام ومنذ ذلك التاريخ وانا اعمل من هذا الكرسي المتحرك من اجل السلام عادل وبدون احتلال ان شاء الله تعالى when when you

hear the jets and and you see the soldiers in the field and hear the tanks, how do you feel? انا باستمرار باشعر بالحزن لمضايقات قوات الاحتلال لاهالي قريه العقبه هذه الصغيره، هذه القريه لم تتعرض لقوات الاسرائيليه حتى بحجر واحد منذ حرب عام 67 الا ان القوات الاسرائيليه ترد على طلبنا من اجل السلام العادل وبدون احتلال بتدمير شارع السلام بتدمير الاراضي الزراعيه باحراق المزروعات باحراق المراعي بالضغط على المواطن لترحيلهم بحجه ان اراضي قره العقبه هي منطقه عسكريه مغلقه ومنطقه جيم ولكن اننا نشعر بالالم. even as the mayor works towards finding an equitable solution ironically. immediately across the road from el akab's welcome sign is the home of akmed

hamdan, his house is under demolition orders and he and his family go to sleep each evening with fears of waking to the sounds of tanks and military bulldozers coming up the road to level his home. zamaمان على زمان سيدي على زمان سيدي يعني سيدي شراها وابوي طبعا من بعده ايه وريث وريث له وبعدها جيت انا يعني هي الارض عزمان اجدادي واسم الطابه لحد هسه الطابوا في اسم سيدي حسين الجابر جابر يعني ارض ممتلكه من من سنين يعني سيدي الله يرحمه سراخ تاريخ ميلاد سيدي سنه 1900 بجوزه 23 24 سيدي ولد سنه 1923 24 وهي الارض اجا هو شرى يعني

خطوب من المحكمه بطرق قانونيه وراك طابه يعني انا لما تكون عندي في اوراك طابه وثبوت ثبوتيات الارض فين المشكله يعني state which is called israel and maybe other uh groups in this area, they want sustainable resources for their personal future, because i don't think that the israeli political leadership, they are trying to achieve real peace in this area, but because this place is an important junction in the world, and the israeli state and the israeli, you know leadership, they want to show the european and the international community that they are the ones who can't control this international junction, so they want to keep making a

crisis, they want to keep fighting for river, so they will continue receiving help and support from the international community, claiming that the only people who can protect and keep this junction as secure place in the middle of the world, well once the idf decides an area as a firing zone a very large area, it's actually bigger than area a, which is under palestinian control, so these large areas which are declared as as military as firing zones then become closed military areas, which means that... the army then has kind of a free range to do what it want what it wants to do, it can move palestinians out, it says it's not safe for them there, and it clears the population out, in a way it's trying to do it as though it's some kind of humanitarian gesture, we don't want you getting caught up in the in ou in our military maneuvers, so you have to move out, but of course it's all a pretext for getting palestinians out of off their land and out of their homes. باننا نرغب بسلام عادل وشامل بدون

احتلال اننا نرغب ان نعيش على اراضينا بسلام من اجل ان تنقل هذه العينه هذا النموذج الى القرى والمدن الاخرى ولكن جواب القوات الاسرائيليه تدمير المنازل تدمير شارع السلام حرمان المواطنين من الخدمات حرما من المي حتى هذه اللحظه يضغطون علينا لره من اجل ترحيلنا بالاضينا هذه مملوكه النا بالطابه وارضنا مملوكه للمواطنين بالطابه احنا عايشين فيها قبل الاحتلال ويوجد ارااضي منازل مبنيه من سنه 1930 عقود قديمه ولكن الاسرائيليين يرغبون بالاستمرار بانهم بيقوما بمضايقه وتنكيد الحياه على هؤلاء الاطفال والنساء والمواطنين في كربي من اجل ترحيلهم ومصادره اراضيهم بحجه اننا في

منطقه سي بحجه اننا في منطقه تشبه جنوب لبنان ان قريه العقبه هي منطقه عسكريه مغلقه ولكن احنا مش مشكلتنا ان قريه العقبه وجبالا تشبه لبنان مشكلتنا ان هذه اراضينا محتله واراضينا هي مملوكه النا بالطابه من عزمان اجدادنا in terms of the the whole problem of what's going on between the israelis and the palestinians the the the pressure on the international community is to is to enforce international law you know that's what it's there for and it's been ignored for decades. or it's been overlooked or it's been twisted, but the international law is fairly fairly clear about what happens here, this is palestinian land, it's part of you, we have many resolutions in the un affirming this, so the international community needs to act, it needs to enforce international law, that's what it's there for, what, what do you see in the near future here in the jordan valley,

it's not killer or white. picture and i hope it will not be more black because what's going on in the jordan valley is kind of inthenic cleansing or maybe more it's genocide because there is an authority which is israeli authority making all kind of pressure all kind of collective punishment against those who still or those manag to exist on the jordan valley from the palestinian community replacing. them with new kind of people, which is jewish community, and of course this is more than ethenic cleansing. what's going on in the jordan valley is kind of stealing the palestinian resources, that's mean is

stealing the future of the palestinian a new generation and it will not be. في هذه اللحظات المباركه لنحتفل مناسبات عزيزه على قلوب شعبنا الفلسطيني وهذه المناسبات هي يوم الارض ذكرا معركه الكرامه يوم الام يوم المراى العالمي يوم الطفل وجديدا يوم الغابات العالميه وفي هذا الشهر من كل عام نحتفل بهذه المناسبات لتجديد العمل الجاذ للحفاظ على ارضنا

وحمايتها من المصادره والتهويد قبل قوات الاحتلال ان اخوانكم في هذه القريه الصغيره يعملون ليله نهار من اجل ان تبقى جميع الايام لدينا ايام ارض لحمايه ارضنا من التهويد والمصادره ونعمل جاهدين لفتح الشوارع للمناطق المهدده وزراعه الاشجار المثمره واستصلاح الاراضي وبناء المؤسسات حيث اصبحت هذه القريه قريه مؤسسات حيث تعمل هذه المؤسسات من خلال اتحاد اتحاد مؤسسات قريه العقبه وهي مجلس قروي العقبه جمعيه المراه الريفيه الخيريه جمعيه العقبه التعاونيه الزراعيه جمعيه العقبه التعاونيه لاسكان المهجرين نادي العقبه للوحده والامل ليوم الارض الخالد هذه الذكرى التي

ناكدوا فيها المره طلوا المره باننا اصحاب هذه الارض اننا اصحاب حق وان لا وطن لنا سوى هذا الوطن for people in america who really don't know about the west bank, we really don't know anything at all about the german value, what's the most important thing this place? we are human being, i'm a man like you and my children is like any other children all over the world, it's shame to have this kind of racist appartied. the future for people in area see, i think is bleak, unless the international community is prepared to actually do something. israel's focus is on

area c, this is the goal, the immediate goal, and so it's work, it's been working for decades on getting palestinians out of area sea, it's been very successful, and every indication is it's going to continue being very successful unless the international community steps into act. palestinians can't live there. if their lives are being made impossible, if they're surrounded by tanks and firing ranges and it's impossible for them to get water to get access to their land, there's no way that they can sustain their lives there, becomes impossible, and so unless we gonna do something about it, we have to say, لقد زرتوا 11 ولايه عام 2008 وجهت الشعب الامريكي انه شعب طيب يختلف اختلاف كلي عن الحكومه الامريكيه وعن السياسه الامريكيه التي تقوم بدعم الحكومه الاسرائيليه عسكريا باستمرار الجندي الذي اطلق النار عليه هو جندي امريكي وليس جندي اسرائيلي لان هذا الجندي

اواعيه وبسطاره وسلاحه وطيارته ودباباته كله من الشعب الامريكي والحكومه الامريكيه ادعو الشعب الامريكي ان يضغط على الحكومه الامريكيه لوقف عمليه دعم اسرائيل عسكريا بل يدعموها سياسييا بل يدعموها من اجل السلام العادل والشامل واعاده الاراضيي الفلسطينيه لاصحابها لا يمكن ان يبقى الظلم مدى الحياه الظلم لا يمكن ان لا يمكن ان ياتي يومما ان يتغير الوضع ولكن قبل ان ياتي الوضع ويكون الشعب الفلسطيني قويا اطلب من الشعب الامريكي ان يكون شعب محترم لدى الشعب الفلسطيني الشعب الاسرائي الفلسطيني غاضب جدا الشعب الامريكي الى انه الشعب الامريكي يدعم حكومته التي تدعم اسرائيل التي سيطرت على اراضينا كلها عام 67 is the main support state

or the main resources for for supporting israel, so our message to the american, first of all, don't pay for our killers, don't pay your money to a place where you don't know. the most... important thing for i think for americans to know about what's happening in the west bank right now is that what we're seeing is a process of sustained ethnic cleansing, the theft of land, the theft of resources of water, and it's being paid for largely by american tax payers, they're subsidizing this process of ethnic cleansing, it's being done in their name, and because of that there's a responsibility, responsibility on americans to stand up and say no, it has to stop, it has to end now.

unyielding resolve, look into the tumultuous. life of yaster arafat, the palestinian leader who dared sit at the negotiation table with israel only to face broken promises and shattered dreams. witness his lifetime tour from fighter to a diplomat, and again from a diplomat to fighter to save palestine. this is story of sacrifice, betray. and unbreakable spirit of a leader who fought against all odds.

the headlines, israel is launching fresh strikes on gaza after killing more than 15,000 palestinians, most of them women and children in the besieg coastal territory. hamas resistance fighters say that they have targeted israeli cities with the barrage of missiles and hit gatherings of the occupation forces in the northern parts of gaza. plus people around the world have held rallies to show solidarity with palestinians and to condemn israeli genocide in gaza.