Parish Priest, Fr Firas Aridah, makes an urgent appeal to Western Christians for assistance in helping to prevent the disappearance of his Christian town which faces de facto destruction due to the building of Segregation Wall and settlement expansions.

Dear friends of Aboud,

The Segregation Wall in Aboud

An Israeli military officer made a tour in Aboud on Sunday, October 2nd. He informed the land owners in Aboud that they will start building the segregation wall on the lands of Aboud from the northern and western sides. He also handed them military orders to confiscate about 3500 donms of the land of Aboud for this act. Enclosed with these orders are maps that show the way of this wall.

As a result, we’d like to assure on the following points:

1-We announce publicly and decisively and under all the circumstances that we completely refuse the building of this segregation wall on the lands of our village or on any parts of the Palestinian territories.

2-This wall will affect largely and negatively all the aspects of life which in turns will reflect themselves on the village and its people in the following ways:

A-This wall will swallow up thousands of donms of the lands of Aboud .Most of them are cultivated with olive trees which are the main source of living for the Palestinian peasants and also considered a symbol for the Palestinian existence and defy.

B-Moreover, this wall will swallow up too many ancient historic and religious sites of Aboud which point out to its old in history.

C-The wall will separate Aboud from the other surrounding villages. This wall will reflect itself on the social, healthy and educational aspects of life in Aboud because Aboud is characterized by its central position among the villages.

D- This wall will block out large areas of grasslands in the face of farmers and shepherds.

3-This wall will stop the expanding of the percolation map of Aboud. Thus, it will affect the spread of construction in Aboud despite the natural increase of population. As a result, a larger number of Aboud villagers will leave Aboud and live in the city.

4-We think that the objection of this wall is to put under the Israeli control the resources of ground water which are in and around the village. The ground water in Aboud is about 20% of the ground water in the West Bank.

5-The building of this wall affects the nature and environment of Aboud and will have a bad psychological effect on its people, too.

6-For all these reasons, we will resist against this wall in all the possible legal and information means. We will also arrange for peaceful demonstrations and protests in Aboud against the wall.

7-Consequently, We’d like to express our total refusal of building of this segregation wall in Aboud which is itself refused by all the international laws and conventions.

Aboud and the Settlements

We’d like to give you a simple idea about Aboud and settlements and the wall, too.

Aboud is a small village that lies to the west of Ramallah. Almost 2500 people live in Aboud. Half of them are Christians and the other half are Moslems. However, they live peacefully and happily together. The land surface of Aboud is about 15000 donms but construction of houses is only allowed on 1000 donms only.

There are already two settlements built on the land of Aboud. The first one is called Beit Arye and it was founded in 1980 as a military area and point. Then, it was changed to a big settlement occupying almost 800 donms from the lands of Aboud.

The second settlement is called Ofarim. It was established in 1982 and occupies almost 700 donms of Aboud. Like Beit Arye it was first a military area, and then it was turned into a big settlement, too.

The wall and the two settlements will take about 3500 donms of the lands of Aboud. As shown by the enclosed maps and as the Israelis say: The red color on the map refers to the lands owned by some people of Aboud. They are almost 262 donms and the blue color on the map refers to the lands that will be damaged by the wall. They are about 635 donms. The Israelis pretend that these lands have no owners and they are owed by the state of Israel. Of course this is totally untrue. It’s good to remind that 35% of these lands are cultivated with olive trees and are mostly owned by Christian families.

At the end we are very hopeful and optimistic that you will do your best efforts to help us and stop carrying out this cruel act on the ground of Aboud. You are most welcomed to come to Aboud to see by yourself the way this wall will take and to listen to the people of Aboud.

With our deep appreciation and regards.

Yours faithfully,

Fr Firas Aridah

Parish priest of Aboud.