The Digital Journalist
Photo by THOMAS HALEY/SIPA PRESS
NU'MAN. Jusef Darawi (left) with members of the Ali Husseini family who were all born in the house behind them. This small village of 250 inhabitants is located on a rocky hillside south of Jerusalem, near Bethlehem and the Jewish settlement of Har Homa. The inhabitants of Nu'man were recently notified that "for reasons of security" their lands, their homes, their cemetary, were going to be annexed by the municipality of Jerusalem -- everything except themselves. Since they are considered to be West Bank residents, they will have to leave. If they remain in their village which has been inhabited by Palesinians for the last 150 years, they will be considered "illegal" and subject to arrest or expulsion. Daily life is already becoming very difficult for them, harrassment by Israeli military that patrol their village, Israeli bureaucrats putting pressure on them to sell their land "before it is too late". "We will not sell one centimeter of our lands." Says Jusef Darwai.