If Trump’s Plan is Not Apartheid, Then What Is?
- If Trump’s Plan is Not Apartheid, Then What Is?
by Fareed Taamallah, https://www.middleeasteye.net/
The US ‘deal of the century’ will deprive me of my ancestors’ farm, which would be either annexed to Israel or become an isolated island among annexed settlements
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As a Palestinian farmer who owns land in Area C, surrounded by illegal Israeli settlements, I stand to lose a lot from US President Donald Trump’s “deal of the century”. I live and work in Ramallah, while my farm is located in my hometown of Qira in the Salfit region, between Ramallah and Nablus. Under the Trump plan, it would become stuck in a kind of no-man’s land between artificially created bantustans.
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History of cultivation
Trump’s “peace” plan for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which is entirely biased towards Israel and has been rejected by Palestinian leaders, gives Israel a green light to annex illegal West Bank settlements. It divides the Palestinian territories into a series of bantustans linked by tunnels and bridges, with no viable strategy for a contiguous Palestinian state.
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From the maps provided in Trump’s plan, it is not clear whether my hometown would be annexed to Israel, or whether it would be an isolated island among annexed Israeli settlements. In both scenarios, it would be difficult for me to cultivate the land I inherited from my father, who, in turn, inherited it from his father.
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Since childhood, I used to cultivate the land with my mother, as we lived off of it exclusively. Many trees that today stand on the farm were planted by my mum and dad, while others I planted with my own children, as we spent weekends working on the land and enjoying its bounties.
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My farm is planted with almond, fig and olive trees; some are up to 700 years old. From these, we consume fresh and dried figs, almonds and olive oil. Last season, we produced three tons of olive oil from our farm. Every year, my friends – from Palestine and all over the world, from Britain to the US to South Africa – come to lend a hand during the olive harvest.
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Most of the land on which Israel’s illegal settlements are built is privately owned by Palestinians, often passed down through generations of farmers. Under Trump’s plan, many of us will be deprived of the opportunity to cultivate our own land, all because Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu want to win more votes.
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9 … I know the blasphemy of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a [a]synagogue of Satan.