Jayyous
Encyclopedia
Jayyous is a Palestinian
Palestinian territories
The Palestinian territories comprise the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Since the Palestinian Declaration of Independence in 1988, the region is today recognized by three-quarters of the world's countries as the State of Palestine or simply Palestine, although this status is not recognized by the...

 village
Village
A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...

 near the west border of the West Bank
West Bank
The West Bank ) of the Jordan River is the landlocked geographical eastern part of the Palestinian territories located in Western Asia. To the west, north, and south, the West Bank shares borders with the state of Israel. To the east, across the Jordan River, lies the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan...

, close to Qalqilya. It is a farming community. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics
Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics
The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics is the statistical organization under the umbrella of the Palestinian Cabinet of the Palestinian National Authority....

, the village had a population of approximately 3,307 inhabitants in 2006.

In the 19th century and early 20th century the village was ruled by the largest Palestinian family, the Jayousi (Al-Jayyousi) family.

The village is located in an area directly affected by the Israeli-built barrier and around 75 per cent of the village's farming land is on the other side of the wall. In order to get to their land the farmer
Farmer
A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, who raises living organisms for food or raw materials, generally including livestock husbandry and growing crops, such as produce and grain...

s need to use one of two gates, North gate or South gate, or gates number 943 and 979 respectively. The two gates are supposed to be open for three short periods a day. In June 2005, the gates were usually closed, and farmers were staging regular protests at the gates. As of February 2007, the gates are open for only three hours per day - one hour each morning, afternoon and evening on average.

In 2002, Jayyous became the first village to mount a non-violent campaign with Israeli and international participation against the construction of the wall and the expansion of settlements on its land. According to The Financial Times, 50 percent of the once-prosperous Jayyous villagers are now dependent on foreign food aid because their agricultural land has been cut off by the wall. In January 2005 Ta'ayush
Ta'ayush
Ta'ayush is a grassroots non-violent organization established in the fall of 2000, by Gadi Algazy and a group of Palestinians and Jewish citizens of Israel. It describes itself as "a grassroots movement of Arabs and Jews working to break down the walls of racism and segregation by constructing a...

 activists along with Gush Shalom
Gush Shalom
Gush Shalom is an Israeli peace activism group founded and led by former Irgun and Knesset Member and journalist, Uri Avnery, in 1993...

, the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions
Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions
The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions is an Israeli peace and human rights organization dedicated to ending the occupation of the Palestinian territories and achieving a just peace between Israelis and Palestinians...

, Machsom Watch
Machsom Watch
Machsom Watch, or Checkpoint Watch is a group of Israeli women who monitor checkpoints in the West Bank and the military courts, out of opposition to the Israeli occupation...

 and Anarchists Against the Wall
Anarchists Against the Wall
Anarchists Against the Wall , sometimes called "Anarchists Against Fences" or "Jews Against Ghettos", is a direct action group composed of Israeli anarchists and anti-authoritarians who oppose the construction of the Israeli Gaza Strip barrier and Israeli West Bank barrier. The AAtW calls the West...

, together with residents of the Palestinian village, began to plant hundreds of olive saplings which they had brought with them to the plot of land where the bulldozers of the settlers had uprooted hundreds of olive trees. Advocate Wiam Shbeyta, an activist of the Ta'ayush movement, said:

"In spite of the police and army assertions, we do not recognise the ownership of the settlers over this land. This land belongs to the Jayyous villagers and the company "Geulat HaKarka" which is associated with the settlers took control of it on the false assertion that it was sold to them. The matter is still awaiting legal review, and we will not allow the settlers to dictate facts on the ground, to grab Palestinian lands and to commence establishing a new settlement on it."


Falkirk
Falkirk
Falkirk is a town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland. It lies in the Forth Valley, almost midway between the two most populous cities of Scotland; north-west of Edinburgh and north-east of Glasgow....

, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

, maintains a sister-city
Town twinning
Twin towns and sister cities are two of many terms used to describe the cooperative agreements between towns, cities, and even counties in geographically and politically distinct areas to promote cultural and commercial ties.- Terminology :...

partnership with Jayyous. A history of this twinning can be found at The Antonine Friendship Link.

External links

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