Chapter Four: Annexation
On May 14, 1948, the State of Israel was declared. Within a year, Israeli military forces killed approximately 13,000 Palestinians and displaced over 750,000, like Mr. Amanallah Ayesh and his family. Over 530 Palestinian villages were destroyed and 78% of historic Palestine was captured, forcing its inhabitants to live in UNRWA refugee camps. The remaining 22% was divided into 2 parts: The West Bank and Gaza Strip. Life under occupation inhibits the Ayesh family and their community from leaving Palestinian territory, roughly 6,020 km2 which includes Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem. Israel occupies 20,770 km2³. In a recent statement by the UN, Israel's 53-year occupation of Palestinian land was said to be the source of profound human rights violations that has led to the denial of the human rights of Palestinians⁴. The Trump administration is currently pushing to reduce Palestinian territory to just 15% of its former territory. No Palestinians were consulted or involved in the creation of Trump’s Middle East Peace Plan⁵. This would significantly impact the Ayesh family and a community that has already undergone so much historical trauma.
In Bethlehem, a wall, twice the size of the Berlin Wall, laced with electrical wire, separates Palestinian territory from Israeli territory. Since 2002, Israel has been constructing this wall that stretches more than 700 km. While we could freely walk across, the Ayesh family has never known life beyond the walls.
Listen to the daughter, Mariam Ayesh, share about living under occupation.
The separation wall is seen from inside the UNRWA Aida Refugee Camp established in 1950. Today the camp is home to approximately 3,150 Palestinian refugees⁶.
An Israeli flag sits on top of the military watchtower along the separation wall dividing Palestine from Israel in Bethlehem, West Bank near the UNRWA Aida Refugee Camp.
An Israeli military watchtower is seen along the separation wall dividing Palestine from Israel in Bethlehem, West Bank near the UNRWA Aida Refugee Camp.
The entrance of the UNRWA Aida Refugee Camp.
“We do not have access to airports or the beach. Never in our lives, our kids have seen the beach”
A graphic depicting the Annexation of Palestine and Trump’s 2020 Plan⁷.
How would you feel if your family’s freedom was determined by walls, military watchtowers, checkpoints, and electrical wire?