The Palestinian Popular Struggle Coordination Committee launched on Friday, January 31, the Melh Al-Ard (Salt of the Earth) campaign by reviving the village of Ein Hijleh, in the Jordan Valley. The objective of the campaign is to reject Israeli annexation of the Jordan Valley by reviving a Palestinian village on land belonging to the St. Gerassimos Monastery of the Orthodox Church. On Sunday, February 2, activists erected a second protest encampment, al-Awda (Return) near the Bisan checkpoint, in the northern Jordan Valley.
The Alternative Information Center (AIC) reports that Ein Hijleh village consists of a few deserted homes and palm trees, and is surrounded by lands taken and used by Israeli settlers. An Israeli military base separates the village from the Deir Hijleh monastery, which owns a property of about 1,000 dunams (247 acres), some of which were taken by Israeli forces.
‘We, the daughters and sons of Palestine, announce today the revival of Ein Hijleh village as part of the Melh Al-Ard campaign in the Jordan Valley. The action aims at refusing the political status quo, especially given futile negotiations destroying the rights of our people for liberation and claim to their land,’ the organizers said in a statement, on Friday.
They added that the village of Ein Hijleh was selected because it is under Israeli control in the Jordan Valley and that this action is one of resistance against Israeli occupation’s plan to annex the Jordan Valley.
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