Holy Land Eyewitness: Room with a view

Normally when you decide to purchase or rent a property you look for the view, except in Palestine. In Palestine we have no choice, the view comes for granted whether we like it or not. Be it an Israeli settlement, a bypass settler-only roads, or a military surveillance tower, the view is imposed on you.

As a young girl I always wondered: "what if all these settlements surrounding us in the beautiful town of Beit Jala, on the top of the hills, are not there? What if the olive trees, bulldozed to make way for the settlement, are still there ?!! How beautiful would these green hills, surrounding my beautiful town, be!!"

Growing up I always asked myself who these people are on the other side of the nearby settlement!! Where did they come from?!! where were they living before?? I could see their cars moving from my bedroom window, thinking to myself do they see me too. Does my town from their view look pretty!! do their kids wonder who we are, the same way we do?!!

I have seen these settlements grow bigger each day, It is a matter of time, I said to myself until they reach my home!! A thought that always haunted me growing up in Beit Jala.

We do not exist for them perhaps, I thought?? because if we do they wouldn't have done this to us. Why are they causing all this pain and misery, Who are these people??

Later in life, I realised it is not only the settlements that are growing fast. There are bypass roads built on neighbour's land for only settlers to use, walls constructed separating land from its owners, olive groves annexed and owners were asked to stay out of their own land. A systematic land and identity theft, and colonisation.

Today I no longer wonder who these people are. They came from all over to settle on my land. For the little me decades ago these settlers were close in proximity but far from us. today they are too close, too close that we no longer can breathe. confiscating and annexing Palestinian land, building roads for themselves, changing my town as I knew it as a child.

The view is becoming way too ugly to bear, wall after wall being constructed, settlements expanding towards us. Highways crossing in the middle of Beit Jala town jeopardising its beautiful nature and authenticity.

These are the reality of settlements and settlers, the last thing they want is to know you. They'll keep pushing you away in the hope you disappear one day.

My small peaceful Christian town of Beit Jala, like most of the Palestinian towns, has been hit hard by a cancer disease called settlements. They grow fast and destroy lively organs on their way. The Cremisan Valley and the Makhrour area, the soul and backbone of the town, have been annexed.

Everyone in the town is wondering about its fate. The Beit Jala community lives in despair struggling to collect the falling pieces of its remains.

The view in my beautiful town is becoming uglier and uglier each day.