The Digital Journalist
Photo by THOMAS HALEY/SIPA PRESS
JUSEF RAMZI in his garden in Qalqilya. The inhabitants of this small farming town (40,000 pop.) have become virtual prisoners in an open-air prison. "For reasons of security" about ten acres of Mr. Ramzi's land have been confiscated. He asks, "Why don't we have international protection? Where is France, where is Germany, where is Europe? Is it only the Israelis who have America to protect them? The world is blind -- they don't see the tyranny of which we are victims." The old man explains to me that this rich agricultural town has lost 40% of it's fertile lands and most of it's water wells. "When you lose control of the water sources, he says, then you lose the land."