Al Hadidiya: Demolished again, steadfast still

Last year I had the honor of travelling to the West Bank with a delegation of 15 donors, activists and organizers all committed to winning the recognition of basic human rights in Palestine.  We spent an afternoon in the village of Al Hadidiya in the Northern Jordan Valley.  There Abu Saqer and his large family live.  Abu Saqer was eloquent as he shared the reasons why he has worked with Grassroots International’s partner Stop the Wall to form the Jordan Valley Council–a project Grassroots supports to unite Palestinian farmers and herders  who are under constant threat of demolition in Israel’s “Relocation Plan.”

We could hear roosters crowing as Rokaya, Abu Saqer’s wife, told us of her heartache each time Israel demolishes her home—starting always with the kitchen so that she can’t even give her crying children food to eat.  She has given birth at a checkpoint.  Not allowed to pass through, she, like many Palestinian women, brought her daughter into the world in the street blocked from going to the hospital by one of the many checkpoints that create a network of roadblocks throughout the entire occupied West Bank.  Rokaya and Abu Saqer named their daughter Sumood, which means steadfastness.

On Thanksgiving day, the Israeli military destroyed Abu Saqer’s home for the eighth time.  You can read more about his struggle for survival here, as well as why he has organized the Jordan Valley Council.

Please take a moment to take action to help protect Al Hadidiya, and support the movement for Palestinian human rights and rights to land.