Palestinian family says it lives within the borders of Israeli settlement

Israel claimed ownership of the land surrounding the Gharib family's house and created a West Bank settlement there.

By ZACHARY KEYSER
Givon Ha'Hadsha (photo credit: WIKIMEDIA)
Givon Ha'Hadsha
(photo credit: WIKIMEDIA)
A Palestinian family living on the border between the Jerusalem-area village of Beit Izja and the Jewish settlement Givon Ha'hadasha have found themselves living in an isolated sectioned-off area surrounded by the settlement.
The Gharib family claims that they built the home more than 40 years ago on land they claimed has belonged to their family since the Ottoman period. When Givon Ha'adasah was founded in 1977,  the Israeli founders claimed ownership of the land surrounding the Gharib family's home, according to a report by BBC's Middle East correspondent Tom Bateman, who ran a video segment titled "The Palestinian family with its own checkpoint."
For security purposes, the perimeter of the family's home was enclosed within a fence standing six meters high all around – leaving the family with only one entrance and exit as well as their own personal checkpoint.
Pointing to an orange gate, Sa'adat Gharib tolds Bateman: "This is a special entrance for the occupation army. For any problems facing them, they come from this gate. They close off the entrance of the house, and we can't come in or out. They see this as protection for the settlers."
When the security fence was initially built, the family claimed that the entrance-exit was consistently closed – forcing them to negotiate with security officials in order to leave their house, according to Haaretz.
The family told Bateman that their housing situation was similar to living in a prison, due to the  amount of control Israeli security forces have over his family home, mainly regarding the lone entrance-exit leading into the village of Beit Ijza – which could be closed off at any moment – as well as the closed-circuit cameras surrounding and watching his property 24/7.
To enter Givon Ha'hadasha, which is right outside the fence, Bateman had to travel through Palestinian neighborhoods, winding roads and even protests – a drive which took roughly an hour and a half – in order "to get right [back to] pretty much where we started."
Givon Ha'hadasha resident Ilanit Gohar, whose family built their house 25 years ago, told Bateman that the Gharibs had chosen their own lot.
"He chose this type of living," said Gohar to the BBC. "Once it was ruled that these lands aren't his, and that they belong to the State of Israel, he can't stop people [from] settling on this land. We can't move him, [but] he won't move us."
Within the implication of the new Trump peace deal, without any changes, Givon Ha'hadasha, home to some 1,000 Israelis, would become recognized internationally as a formal part of Israel.


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