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.
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