Tulkarem and Qalqilya

These two cities, located along the Green Line (a border established by the Armistice Line in 1949), are less than 20 kilometres from the Mediterranean Sea, to which residents are denied access. Until 1948, Tulkarem and Qalqilia were agricultural towns; Tulkarem was the main town in the district. In 1948, waves of refugees from 17 surrounding, totally destroyed villages, swelled Tulkarem’s population. Qalqilia was slated for destruction in the ’67 war: due to diplomatic pressure the army finally withdrew its bulldozers and each city now numbers over 40,000 residents; both are enclaves or ghettoes completely encircled by the Wall (disguised from the Israeli side at Tulkarem by a huge earth-bank) and in desperate economic circumstances. Unemployment runs at 95% and most families exist on foreign food aid. Closure means men cannot seek work outside the cities.

Until the al-Aqsa Intifada, Qalqilia and Tulkarem had close ties with the cities in the Triangle, where they worked; however, since April 2002, a new fact on the ground has been added to the curfews, economic stranglehold and Ariel settlement bloc: thousands of hectares of prime farm and urban land have been confiscated and destroyed for construction of the separation wall and even more recently the landgrab of the seamzone area created between the Green Line and Wall, in favour of new settlement expansion. The Wall creates a new barrier near the Green Line, totally isolating many West Bank villages (e.g. Barta’a, Baqa a-Sharqiya, Nazlat Isa, Habla, Azzun Atma, Ras Tira, Daba, Wallaja, Nu‘aman, Wadi Fukin). Industrial zones are planned here: serving Israel’s settler economy.

Other Sites in the Area

Sebastiya and its Ruins

Located 13 kilometres northwest of Nablus. Take Road 60, then 5715. Two routes lead to the ruins, the first of which runs directly into the forum after crossing the village. The second route, accessible by car, leads to the western gate. Open April -September 8:00-17:00, October - March 8:00-16:00.

Jenin

For people interested in the history of place names, Jenin is a real treat: it is mentioned in various historical and mythical references as well as various travel chronicles: Gi-na (in the Amarna Letters), Qena (in the papyrus annals of Thutmose III), En Ganim (in the Bible), Ginea (Flavius Josephus), Genon or the Greater Gallius (by the Crusaders), or Jenin (the Mameluke period).

Located in the heart of fertile plains, Jenin was also at the crossroads of important trade routes. In the thirteenth century, in order to forestall another Crusade, the authorities fortified the region. A relay station for homing pigeons was set up in Jenin; at the same time, a tower (manwar) relaying light and smoke signals was built in the vicinity. Damascus and Jenin always kept close contact. A fifteenth-century writer even describes how ice was transported by camel-back from Damascus to Jenin. In the sixteenth century, Fatima Khatun the wife of the governor of Damascus ordered the Izz ed-Din Mosque (Talal Street) built here, circa 1566, as well as a complex of public buildings (hammam, sabil, souq). Jenin developed late as a large agricultural town, in the eighteenth century.

During the First World War, German troops stationed nearby constructed an airport near the city, to help their Turkish allies. A memorial (on the western side of the city) honours pilots killed in the war. South of Jenin, there is another memorial to the memory of the Iraqi soldiers killed defending Palestine in 1948. “Operation Defensive Shield,” a deadly Israeli offensive into major Palestinian cities and West Bank villages in the spring of 2002, (in retribution for the Park Hotel attack which killed over 40 family members celebrating Pesach there) subjected Jenin city and the refugee camp to a total siege on April 3 when they were declared a “closed military zone.” The camp was bombarded without interruption day and night for 13 days, while scenes of horror unfolded. Medical workers and journalists were categorically denied access to the camp. On April 10, the Israeli army gave the population one last warning to evacuate the camp. The attack that followed redoubled the intensity against those 4,000 who refused to leave. In all, over 50 Palestinian civilians were killed, many in cold blood by bullet or bulldozer. Hundreds of others were wounded, and more than 450 families (on average, 6 children per family) saw their homes destroyed. The award winning film “Arna’s Children” has footage filmed of some of the Jenin fighters, who talk in it shortly afterwards of their resistance to the Israeli incursion. Whilst Israel denies a massacre took place, there is no doubt many were killed, the people unable to bury those dead for many days, and at least one bulldozer driver later boasted as to his ruthless devastation of as many houses as possible, even with people inside. Now some houses have been rebuilt by international development agencies; the roads have (controversially) been made wide enough for tanks, in an attempt to safeguard those houses in any future incursions or raids.