Between Survival and Death.. The Story of a Jerusalemite Family's Steadfastness in the Face of Settlement Expansion in Beit Iksa Village

In the besieged village of Beit Iksa, northwest of Jerusalem, the meanings of steadfastness are embodied in the story of citizen Maher Zayed and his son Kamal, who face the arrogance of settlers and their continuous attacks. The father and son find themselves in a daily struggle against attempts to uproot them from their ancestral land by force of arms and the protection of the occupation army and its arbitrary military laws.

The war on Gaza in October 2023 did not deter Maher from continuing to work on his land; instead, he redoubled his efforts to reclaim eight dunams and plant them with various types of trees, legumes, and leafy greens. He saw every seedling he planted as a new nail he hammered into the coffin of displacement plans aimed at emptying the village of its original inhabitants.

About three months ago, new chapters of suffering began when a settler stormed the land in a provocative attempt. Despite calling the police and army to remove him, his absence did not last long. The settlers returned with intensive military protection and blocked the roads leading to the land with piles of dirt, declaring that its owners were prohibited from accessing it.

A major shock befell the family when the occupation army officially informed them that their land had been converted into 'state land,' a term used by the occupation to legitimize seizure. Immediately after the decision, a tent and a mobile home were placed on the site, and a settler began grazing his sheep in the areas that used to support the Zayed family.

Maher describes with anguish how his land has become a closed military zone, where the settler roams freely, while the rightful owners are prevented from entering it, whether on foot or using agricultural tractors. Despite his repeated attempts to take alternative routes to access it, occupation soldiers pursued him with a barrage of sound bombs and tear gas.

On the same path walks the young agricultural engineer Kamal Zayed, who invested his knowledge and experience in developing a sheep farm and modern agriculture on his family's land. But the young man's dreams clashed with the arrogance of heavily armed soldiers who deliberately destroyed his facilities and expelled him from the place under threat of arms many times.

Kamal sadly says that the situation has become worse than imaginable, and when he tried to resort to Palestinian liaison for coordination to access his land, the response was disappointing. He was informed that the Israeli side was 'busy' and not responding to calls, leaving him alone to face a settler who had seized his dream and built his house on it.

Beit Iksa village lives in almost complete isolation, as the occupation imposes a military cordon on it, consisting of settlements, bypass roads, and the separation wall. Residents have only one entrance that passes through a strict military checkpoint, turning the simplest details of their daily lives into an arduous journey of harassment and waiting.

Since the establishment of the military checkpoint about 15 years ago, the village's conditions have worsened, and leaving home has become an unsafe adventure. Kamal confirms that the systematic tightening aims to push residents to voluntary departure, but the determination to stay remains paramount despite all challenges.

Maher points with his hand to a settlement outpost inhabited by only five settlers, but thanks to army protection, they have seized vast areas of the village's land. These five have deprived about 80% of Beit Iksa residents from accessing their historical properties inherited from their fathers.

The historical area of Beit Iksa is more than 14,000 dunams, but the occupation authorities have restricted urban expansion for residents to a narrow area not exceeding 650 dunams. This geographical and demographic siege aims to suffocate the village, which is inhabited by about 2,000 steadfast Palestinians in the face of Judaization.

The slogan of the Zayed family and the villagers remains 'either survival or death,' rejecting the idea of emigration or departure, no matter how severe the attacks. For Maher and Kamal, the land is not just an area for agriculture, but it is their identity and existence that cannot be relinquished under any circumstances.

They want us to die.. Yes, we will die, but we will not leave land we inherited from father to grandfather, no matter how varied the methods of aggression.