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Scene. File? Published by IMEMC News
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by IMEMC News
Dec 24, 2022

On Saturday dawn, Palestinian resistance fighters exchanged fire with Israeli soldiers invading many areas of Jenin, in the northern part of the occupied West Bank.

Media sources said many armored military vehicles invaded Jenin city from several directions and were met with fierce resistance in the city before withdrawing without being able to abduct any Palestinian.

Hours before the invasion, Palestinian fighters exchanged fire with Israeli soldiers in several areas around Jenin city and surrounding towns.

Also, fighters of the “Jenin Brigade,” one of the armed groups of the Islamic Jihad, and fighters of the Al-Aqsa Brigades of the Fateh movement, fired many live rounds at the Shaked illegal colony, built on stolen Palestinian lands west of Jenin.

The fighters also exchanged fire with Israeli soldiers at the Al-Jalama military roadblock and near the Annexation Wall in the Al-’Arqa village and Jaba’ town, in addition to firing live rounds at the Merav illegal colony.
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Background on Merav settlement and Jalbun village:

Wastewater Flow from “Merav” & “Ma’ali Jalbua’” Settlements Turn Jalboun Village to Epidemic Area

by PENGON (Palestinian Environmental NGOs Network)


Jalboun village located in the far northern east of Jenin city, it is surrounded by three settlements, on the tops of the surrounding mountains : "Ma'ali Jelbua", "Malak Joshua,", and "Merav" settlement. In addition to that; the village was surrounded by the separation wall which has destroyed more than 2000 dunums of agricultural lands. Since the establishment of the apartheid wall on AL Jalbun land, the residents of the village were not safe, as the air, plants, soil, from the occupation practices that aims at getting them to leave their land.
New Israeli encroachment was added to the residents suffer, after pumping raw wastewater from "Merav", and "Ma’ali Jalbua’” settlements to the populated and agricultural area in the village.

Wastewater flows from these settlements to the agricultural and populated lands, leaving environmental and health hazards. Wastewater destroyed agricultural land and turned it into a source of diseases.

Eyewitness Testimonies

The citizen, Khaled Abu AL Rob (30 years), described his suffering caused by wastewater flow from Merav settlement: "it is not unbearable, life here like hell, wastewater destroyed our crops, polluted air and water".

He added: "Our area has turned into a big prison by wastewater flow from the settlements, the streets in front of our homes have been banned and difficult to walk because of the wastes, stench smells, insects and mosquitoes which has prevent us to open windows of our houses"
He added: "In addition to that wastewater is saturated with chemicals that damaged our crops and burnt the agricultural soil.

Basma Abu AL Rob is suffering due to the contaminated wastewater flow from Merav settlement but in a different way she said: "It is not only stench smell or insects, which prevented us to sit in our home gardens, and even sleep during the night, it has become even more than hell , when the wastewater entered the rooms of our house. "
She continued: "it can’t be imagined what happened when wastewater flew into the house and damaged everything inside, she said: we tried for more than an hour with various ways to prevent wastewater flow to the house. "

Omar Henthawi uses wooden planks to cross to his house, which was surrounded by wastewater. He said: I spend a lot of time every day to find a way to keep my home from wastewater flow, but I failed every time, what was forced me to put wooden planks at the entrance of the house to be able for my wife and children crossing above to enter the house. "
He added: "I am preventing my children to play outside the house, lest they be infected by diseases caused by insects and contaminated water."

The source of this contaminated water is cattle farms in addition to the remnants of potatoes canning factories in "Merav" settlement, the settlers clean up the cattle farms and factories and collect the water in the pools before pumping to the village.



Losses of farmers

The suffering of people in the village, especially the farmers who own land next to the separation wall does not end at this point, in many cases, the farmers are prevented from entering their land by Israeli army, and sometimes subjected to beatings when they enter their land because what Israeli called "security zone."

The villagers live a variety forms of suffering caused by the occupation’s practices against them, during the recent period, occupation forces have put wild dogs at the gates which were built on sections of the separation wall , which had become a real threat to the citizens, especially children and the elderly.

The settlers did not stop disturbing Palestinians since the establishment of the separation wall, either leaving stray dogs or cows in the olive fields , or preventing farmers from reaching their agricultural land adjacent to the wall, or setting fire of the olive trees.

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