Restrictions Land Confiscation on Use and Access Introduction Fathy Khdeirat - Tubas, Tubas224 I was born in Bardala, a small village in the north of the Jordan Valley. I have been politically active for around 17 years in the Jordan Valley. Since 1967 the Jordan Valley suffers a very high level of oppression due to various Israeli occupation policies. This area has a strategic importance for any future independent Palestinian state. It is considered the ‘vegetable basket’ of Palestine and it contains the most important sources of water springs, not only from an agricultural level, but also from a touristic angle. Further, the Jordan Valley has a unique environment and climate. Here we have the Dead Sea, the holy Jordan River and, above all, it is the eastern gate for Jerusalem. There will not be any chance for East Jerusalem to become our capital if it can’t expand to the east, towards the Jordan Valley. It is also our only gate to the outside world through Jordan. Obviously, Israel is aware of the economical, political and geographical importance of the valley. This is why it has never stopped trying to suffocate the lives of the Palestinian residents of these areas. Lack of infrastructure Some communities received basic infrastructure only after 1995. But most of the villages in the Jordan Valley do not receive any kind of services such as schools, electricity or water. The only policies that the Israeli occupation carries out in this area are ones of ongoing forced displacement: taking over lands of Palestinians and home demolitions of the remaining communities. Moreover, people are obliged to buy water from the Israeli water company "Mekorot". This company pumps the water from Palestinian springs and wells and sells it to Palestinians at a high price. This is the same water that we used to have naturally. This policy led to the drying of the Jordan Valley and the ruining of its unique environment, negatively affecting the agricultural production. Furthermore, it is forbidden to build any constructions or infrastructures meaning that the people aren't allowed to build schools, clinics, barracks, houses, etc. Nothing can be built in Area C without Israel’s authorization and permission, which it never gives. So we find ourselves building our own infrastructure without permission even if we know that we might pay a high price including fines, demolitions and even imprisonment. Today, the remaining Palestinian communities of the Jordan Valley are isolated from one another. They have become open-air prisons surrounded by gates, barbed wires, check-points, colonies, trenches and surveillance cameras. 224 Fathy Khdeirat, ‘The City of Tubas, District of Tubas’, interview by BADIL, March 2013. 65