As part of MA’ANs strong and ongoing advocacy work in the Jordan Valley, a political tour was conducted in the Valley on January 5, 2014, for both local Palestinian and international journalists, including representatives from Al-Jazeera, Al-Quads Newspaper, Egypt Today, and Ro’ya TV, among others. This full day tour exposed the journalists to some of the most critical realities of life under continuous occupation in the Valley and, importantly, of the strategic barriers that this occupation poses to the maintenance of basic human security and sustainable livelihood development in the area.
A journalist interviews a local resident about her experience of life in the Jordan Valley.
The tour began in the southern Bedouin community of Ras al-Auja, where residents spoke of the recent Israeli plans to change the status of the land surrounding their homes to a closed military zone. They commented that such a change would severely impede their ability to access their land in order to maintain their livelihoods and even to reach their own houses.
The tour ended the northern part of the Jordan Valley, where the journalists listened to residents who spoke about their more general experience of being under occupation, including ongoing threats to their sources of income, and even to their lives. Here, the tour participants also met with community chiefs and local governorate representatives to gain their perspectives on the political, economic and social situation in the Jordan valley, and to hear about the 'facts on the ground’ stemming from their experiences as local council representatives.
This tour forms part of the wide range of awareness-raising work undertaken by MA’AN in the Jordan Valley. This component of MAANs work is particularly important in light of the recent publicised agenda of the Israeli government to vote upon the Annexation the Jordan Valley. Whilst this was a largely symbolic form of political aggression (as it was recognised as highly unlikely to be carried out in practice), this continuous provocation exposes Palestinian communities in the Jordan Valley to extensive psychosocial pressures, and reinforces their vulnerable status as a people under full Israeli occupation. The tour, therefore, was successful in emphasising these realities to the journalists, making them aware of the persistent difficulties that Valley communities face - difficulties that would seek to drive them out of their lands entirely.
A journalist speaks with local children during the tour to gain their perspectives on every-day life in the Valley.
