Ablad Darwish, Ma'an News, Bethlehem
22 August, 2007
Father Anton Beloni from Genova in Colombia (b.1831 d. 1903), laid the foundation stone in the building of Cremisan Monastery in Beit Jala, near Bethlehem in the southern West Bank. He could not know that Israeli authorities would sentence it to lifetime imprisonment in 2007. The monastery owns an area of thousands of hectares, including a convent and chapel, along with dozens of houses, belonging to local Palestinians, who used to fund themselves from the agricultural products of the fertile land.
On 10th July 2007, Israeli authorities declared military order #T-07-75, stating that 2000 dunums of land were to be confiscated. Seven days were given in which to raise any objections to the Tel Aviv authorities.
Father Anton arrived from Genova 148 years ago. He was named "Father of orphans", as he attended to, and took care of, dozens of orphans in Beit Jala.
In 1885, he arrived to live in the area, purchasing the lands of Cremisan from Sheikh Qabalan Dahdah and Father Emil Zakaria. Father Anton started to build the monastery, which included an orphanage and a school for theology and philosophy. Thousands of trees were planted by the priest during this time.
Fast-forward to 2007, and an Israeli court issues an order to confiscate 2000 dunums for the establishment of the separation wall, the route of which crosses the road to the Cremisan land from the nearby town of Beit Jala, depriving worshippers of access to the monastery.
Ghayyath Nassar, attorney for the Beit Jala municipality told me that, not only will 2,000 dunums of land be confiscated, the fate of 11 Palestinian family homes remain unknown.
"Some will be destroyed, some have the separation wall just three metres from them," he says. A kindergarten will be also enclosed on the opposite side of the wall to the monastry and West Bank land.
After a long fight through the Israeli courts, a gate will be established in the wall to allow the children to attend the nursery. The passage through the gate is due to be controlled by the Israeli army, notorious in the area for not opening other gates for access to farmland by Palestinian farmers.
The owner of one of the houses under threat, Yusra Al-Arja, stated that she built the small home six years ago, and now will face the separation wall every day. A further homeowner, Nicole Al-Alam, declared "I own a small house, which I inherited from my sisters, who built it before 1948. I tried to maintain it as best I could. I also inherited six dunums of land around the house, which I planted with olives, apricots and figs, to help as part of my family's income." She does not know if she will be able to remain, if the land and home will continue to belong to her, or if her home is to be confiscated for the construction of the separation wall.
The other families in the area are understandably also worried about the future of their homes and lands. The other houses belong to the families of Al-Araj, Az-Zumar, Zrinah and Qintar respectively.
The architect of Beit Jala municipality, Samya Zait, stated her sadness over the impending construction, stating that these families do not know the fate of their homes and lands.
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Israeli forces demolish thousands of forest trees owned by Cremisan Monastery
Ma'an News, Bethlehem, 15 / 08 / 2007
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