Rebuilding at Abed’s (West Bank)
Abed is a farmer from Al Wallajah village who has been living in a cave on his land for 17 years, attempting to resist displacement by Israeli authorities and to maintain and care for his family’s land. He lives in a cave because he is not allowed to build according to Israeli military law. He is not connected to water, sewage or electricity networks. In caring for the land he has planted over 1000 trees in the last decade.
In the shadow of the Gaza war, Israel took the opportunity to demolish many buildings and agricultural structures in the West Bank in order to pave the way for planned settlement expansion. Abed’s place was among those targeted, with bulldozers wrecking the frontage of his cave, his rainwater harvesting roof, his compost toilet and crushing several trees.
GREAN Palestine* has been partnering with Abed to assist him in his struggle for many years. He is a shining example of sumoud (steadfastness) in his commitment to care for his land and maintain his link with it. His generosity, courage and open-heartedness have inspired hundreds of people. Now we need to support him in his stated intention of rebuilding and refusing to give in or collapse under this vicious blow that has been struck.
We funded the construction of a rainwater harvesting roof in 2013 and there is no doubt that the ability to harvest and store water is a key factor in facilitating Abed to remain on the land and care for his plants and trees. 500 pounds would cover the cost of the materials needed (corrugated iron, wood, water tanks, gutters) and their delivery to the site. GREAN Palestine volunteers and friends of Abed will help construct them.
If 100 of us put our hands in our pockets and contribute just a little to this cause, we can have the roof back up!
~~~~~
*GREAN Palestine stands for "GrassRoots Environmental Action Network Palestine". It is a loose and diverse coalition of organisers, activists, farmers, development professionals, international volunteers, permaculture students, entrepreneurs and visionaries sharing skills, knowledge and ideas to build change from the ground up in Palestine.
The network was officially started in 2012, mainly to provide an umbrella funding mechanism to receive grants for several small projects in support of Palestinian farmers (building rainwater harvesting infrastructure, planting trees, donating simple tools, etc.), but in reality, it had existed for much longer as a result of interactions between activists offering support for each other’s projects (a synergy of beneficial relationships). GREAN Palestine is entirely volunteer run and has 0 overheads. It is highly flexible, and is used as it is needed by members who want to make projects happen.