GAZA CITY: Palestinian farmer Hamza Abu Thabet is becoming more and more worried about Israel’s plans to annex parts of the West Bank and the Jordan Valley, on the borders between the West Bank and Jordan.
He has lived in his village, Froosh Beit Dajan, in the Jordan Valley for three decades. But he is increasingly anxious over his and his family’s future, which he feels is under threat and shrouded in uncertainty.
Israel’s annexation project has been given the green light by the US as part of President Donald Trump’s Vision for Peace plan. It could start as early as July 1 and incorporate up to 30 percent of the West Bank into Israel. Much of this land is already host to Israeli settlements considered illegal under international law, but is claimed by Palestinians for a future independent state of their own.
Abu Thabet follows everything related to the annexation plan with great interest and on a daily basis. Six families work on his 20 dunums (20,000 sq. meters) of agricultural land.
“I hear everyday the news and updates of the plan, but the most important thing is that I and the Jordan Valley residents do not know what will happen to us,” he told Arab News.
There are about 12,000 people in the Jordan Valley and most of them depend on agricultural work.
“Our lives are in the Jordan Valley and I cannot imagine living anywhere else,” said Abu Thabet, who inherited his trade from his father and grandfathers. “Over the years we have stood up in our homes and lands, despite the oppression, the Israeli aggressions, and the restrictions on us in all aspects of life. But today the matter has become vague and unknown, and we do not know what they are planning for us.”
He believed that the Palestinian Authority (PA) had a lot to do in order to strengthen the resilience of residents and farmers in the Jordan Valley in order to face the annexation plan, even though political agreements say that Israel controls the area and is responsible for its security.
On Wednesday, Palestinian Prime Minister Muhammad Shtayeh approved steps to support farmers in the Jordan Valley by paying their debts, pumping water from PA-owned wells and providing investors with easy loans.
Abu Thabet said that the PA should help Jordan Valley residents by developing infrastructure, water and electricity networks.
The Jordan Valley, an area of 450 square kilometers, constitutes 25 percent of the West Bank’s total area. It suffers from severe Israeli restrictions that hinder development and prevent the construction of homes and schools.
This tough reality was summed up by another farmer, Ameed Hajj Muhammad. “The Jordan Valley has been effectively annexed and completely controlled by Israel since the 1967 defeat,” he told Arab News. “Israel controls every detail of our daily life.”
Hajj Muhammad said that dozens of Israeli settlements, camps and checkpoints were spreading in the Jordan Valley and ruining their lives.
He owns a 15-dunum area of agricultural land where he grows vegetables and flowers, but struggles with irrigation and also has difficulties marketing his crop.
The Jordan Valley farmers depend on sourcing water from wells dating back decades as Israel prevents them from drilling new ones.
Hajj Mohamed said it was not just the PA who had a responsibility to help farmers out.
“Palestinians need to support us by consuming our products, such as vegetables, flowers and melons, so that the farmers can withstand the high costs resulting from the Israeli restrictions.”
Israel already controls 95 percent of the Jordan Valley area, according to Azim al-Hajj, who is director of the Agricultural Relief Association. Palestinian residents currently only benefit from 5 percent of the estimated 50,000 dunums of agricultural land.
Al-Hajj said that Israel’s most dangerous act against farmers and residents was denying them access to the 87 percent of water sources that it controlled.
Since the June 1967 war, Israel has issued 2,500 military laws to restrict Palestinian residents, and because of that, the population of Palestinians in the Jordan Valley has decreased from 250,000 to 12,000 over time.
The Jordan Valley has 36 Israeli settlements with a total population of 9,500 settlers, and most of these people work in agriculture.
Since 1967 the Israeli occupation has displaced more than 50,000 Palestinian residents from the Jordan Valley, sometimes entire communities, claiming that they live on military training grounds.
The annexation plan targets an area 10 to 15 km west of the Jordan River and includes dozens of villages and areas, according to Al-Hajj.
“What is required from the PA are real programs and a package of projects in the fields of agriculture, health and education. The results could be felt by residents in their daily life.”
Jordan Valley farmers fear for the future as Israel’s West Bank annexation looms
https://arab.news/w9ndd
Jordan Valley farmers fear for the future as Israel’s West Bank annexation looms
- Palestinian prime minister approves steps to support farmers in Jordan Valley by paying their debts
Iraq ministry says two border guards killed by PKK fire
The two guards were killed and a third wounded
IRBIL, Iraq: A shooting which officials blamed on the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) killed two Iraqi border guards on Friday near the Turkish boundary in Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region, Iraq’s interior ministry said.
The PKK, which has fought a decades-long insurgency against the Turkish state, has several positions in Iraq’s northern Kurdistan region, which also hosts Turkish military bases used to strike Kurdish insurgents.
“When the Iraqi border forces were carrying out their duties securing the Iraqi-Turkish border... they were fired at by terrorists from the banned PKK organization” in Zakho district, the interior ministry said in a statement.
The two guards were killed and a third wounded, it added.
A border guard official told AFP that the guards were patrolling a village near the Turkish border when the “shooting and clashes” with the PKK took place.
Baghdad deploys federal guards along its border with Turkiye in coordination with the government of the Kurdistan region and its forces, the peshmerga.
The Iraqi federal authorities in Baghdad have recently sharpened their tone against the PKK. Last year, Baghdad quietly listed the group as a “banned organization” — though Ankara demands that the Iraqi government do more in the fight against the militant group.
Ankara along with the United States deems the PKK a “terrorist” organization.
Türkiye has conducted hundreds of strikes against PKK fighters in Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region.
Israeli withdrawal from south Lebanon will last beyond 60 days, Netanyahu’s office says
- There was no immediate comment from Lebanon or Hezbollah
JERUSALEM: The Israeli army will not complete its withdrawal from southern Lebanon by a Monday deadline, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said on Friday, saying Lebanon has not yet fully enforced the ceasefire agreement.
The deal, brokered by the United States and France, ended more than a year of hostilities between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah. The fighting peaked with a major Israeli offensive that displaced more than 1.2 million people in Lebanon and left Hezbollah severely weakened.
Under the agreement, which came into effect on Nov. 27, Hezbollah weapons and fighters must be removed from areas south of the Litani river and Israeli troops should withdraw as the Lebanese military deploys into the region, all within a 60-day timeframe due to conclude on Monday at 4 a.m. (0200 GMT).
Netanyahu’s office said in a statement that the Israeli military’s withdrawal process was “contingent on the Lebanese army deploying in southern Lebanon and fully and effectively enforcing the agreement, while Hezbollah withdraws beyond the Litani.”
“Since the ceasefire agreement has not yet been fully enforced by the Lebanese state, the gradual withdrawal process will continue, in full coordination with the United States,” the statement said.
There was no immediate comment from Lebanon or Hezbollah.
UN suspends all trips into Houthi-held areas of Yemen over staffers being detained
- The statement comes after the Houthis detained UN staffers
DUBAI: The United Nations on Friday suspended all travel into areas held by Yemen’s Houthi rebels after more of their staff were detained by the rebels.
The statement comes after the Houthis detained UN staffers, as well as individuals associated with the once-open US Embassy in Sanaa and aid groups.
“Yesterday, the de facto authorities in Sanaa detained additional UN personnel working in areas under their control,” the UN statement read. “To ensure the security and safety of all its staff, the United Nations has suspended all official movements into and within areas under the de facto authorities’ control.”
The Houthis did not immediately acknowledge the UN’s decision, which came as they have been trying to deescalate their attacks on shipping and Israel after a ceasefire was reached in the Israel-Hamas war.
US President Donald Trump separately has moved to reinstate a terrorism designation he made on the group late in his first term that had been revoked by President Joe Biden, potentially setting the stage for new tensions with the rebels.
The Houthis earlier this week said they would limit their attacks on ships in the Red Sea corridor and released the 25-member crew of the Galaxy Leader, a ship they seized back in November 2023.
Israel building military installations in Golan demilitarized zone
- UN: Israeli construction along Area of Separation is ‘severe violation’ of 1974 ceasefire agreement
- Israeli forces have been operating in southern Syria since fall of Assad regime in December
LONDON: The Israeli military is building installations in the demilitarized zone between the occupied Golan Heights and Syria, satellite images published by the BBC have revealed.
Israeli forces moved into the Area of Separation agreed in the 1974 ceasefire with Syria, crossing the so-called Alpha Line following the fall of the Assad regime in December.
The satellite images, taken on Tuesday, show construction work and trucks around 600 meters inside the Area of Separation, including a track linking the site to another Israeli-administered road in the area.
Footage obtained by a drone operated by a Syrian journalist on Monday also identified excavators and bulldozers at the location.
The Israeli military told the BBC that its “forces are operating in southern Syria, within the buffer zone and at strategic points, to protect the residents of northern Israel.”
The UN Disengagement Observer Force has said Israeli construction along the Area of Separation is “a severe violation” of the 1974 ceasefire agreement.
Jeremy Binnie, Middle East specialist at defense intelligence company Janes, told the BBC: “The photo shows what appear to be four prefabricated guard posts that they will presumably crane into position in the corners, so this is somewhere they are planning to maintain at least an interim presence.”
It is not the first time that the BBC has identified Israeli forces inside the Area of Separation. Soldiers were spotted near the town of Majdal Shams, around 5.5 km from the new site, while satellite pictures taken in November found a trench being dug by Israeli personnel along the Alpha Line near the town of Jubata Al-Khashab.
Hamas says to provide names of 4 Israeli hostages on Friday for next swap
- Four Israeli women hostages to be freed on Saturday as part of a second release
- Hamas has not released definitive information on how many captives are still alive or the names of those who have died
CAIRO: A senior Hamas official told AFP that his group will provide on Friday the names of four Israeli women hostages to be freed the following day as part of a second release under the ceasefire with Israel.
“Today, Hamas will provide the names of four hostages as part of the second prisoner exchange,” said Bassem Naim, a member of Hamas’s political bureau based in Doha.
“Tomorrow, Saturday, the four women hostages will be released in exchange for a group of Palestinian prisoners, as agreed upon in the ceasefire deal.”
Naim also said that once the exchange takes place, war-displaced Palestinians in southern Gaza will be able to begin returning to the north of the territory.
“An Egyptian-Qatari committee will oversee the implementation of this part of the agreement on the ground,” he said.
“The displaced will return from the south to the north via Al-Rashid Road, as Israeli forces are expected to withdraw from there in accordance with the agreement.”
The ceasefire agreement was brokered by Qatar, Egypt and the United States after months of intense negotiations.
The truce, the second in the more than 15 months of war, began on Sunday, with the first three hostages released in exchange for around 90 Palestinian prisoners.
The war between Hamas and Israel broke out after the militants’ deadly attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
During the attack, militants took 251 hostages, 91 of whom remain in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military has confirmed are deceased.
The first truce, implemented in late November 2023, lasted just one week but involved the release of 105 hostages in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners.
The October 7 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,210 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
Since then, Israel’s retaliatory response has killed at least 47,283 people in Gaza, the majority of them civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry, figures which the UN considers are reliable.
