Ramallah: Residents of Kardalah, a village in the northern Jordan Valley, have to walk more than three kilometres to a nearby village to perform prayers, as Israeli authorities are refusing to let them build a mosque in their own village.
Israeli military forces raided the village of over 500 people on Sunday ordering the villagers to suspend construction work on the mosque.
Under the Oslo Accords between the Israeli regime and the Palestinian National Authority, the West Bank is divided into three areas. In Area A the Palestinians have administrative and security control and in Area B Palestinians have administrative control. In Area C, which covers 65 per cent of the West Bank and which includes the village of Kardalah, Israel has full administrative and security control.
According to Gassan Fuqaha’a, who heads Kardalah’s Local Council as well as the Services Council of the Northern Jordan Valley Areas, the villagers decided to build their own mosque, assuming the Israelis would not object to such a building.
He said the Israelis know the village does not have a mosque and the nearest is in the next village, Ain Al Baydah. The Israeli forces have instructed the village council to refer to Beit El and fixed a hearing at the Beit El court.
Fuqaha’a said that the Israelis previously granted the villagers of Kardalah construction permits and provided them with water and electricity but since the early 1990s (mainly after the signing of the Oslo Accords), not one building permit has been issued by the Israelis. “Most of the residents of Kardalah, especially the younger generations, have fled the village after losing hope of obtaining a building permit,” he told Gulf News.
Fuqaha’a owns the land on which the mosque was to be built and donated it to his fellow villagers for the mosque.
The residents of Kardalah have applied to the Tubas and Northern Jordan Valley Areas Governorate to address the issue of the mosque. Fuqaha’a is sceptical about their chances of success, calling the likelihood “almost nil.”
During the stalled peace talks between the Israelis and the Palestinians, the Israelis set a precondition that it would maintain its control over the Jordan Valley areas. Palestinians rejected the precondition, arguing the Jordan Valley areas are a central part of the West Bank.
General conditions in the Jordan Valley areas are tougher than those of occupied East Jerusalem where the Israelis approach those who build after they have finished their construction. In the Jordan Valley, the Israeli military approaches those building the moment construction starts.
