‘We’re not afraid’: French-Palestinian family fights for West Bank land seized by Israeli settlers
A French-Palestinian family in the Makhrour valley in the West Bank has been campaigning for years against the expropriation of their land. Israeli settlers seized the land by force at the end of July amid a drastic acceleration of settlements in the Palestinian territory since the start of the war in Gaza.
It was a restaurant appreciated for its cuisine and friendliness in the West Bank town of Beit Jala. “The place is beautiful, the food succulent and the owners are adorable [...]. If you're passing through Beit Jala, a stop at Al Makhrour is a must,” a comment from 2015 reads on its Facebook page.
In this Catholic valley west of Bethlehem, which in 2014 became a UNESCO World Heritage Site due to its its olive groves and vineyards, the Kisiya family's restaurant is nothing more than a pile of ruins topped by fences.
Israeli settlers backed by the army seized the 5,000 square-metre plot on July 31 and evicted the French-Palestinian family on the grounds they did not own it. “We are being targeted because we reject the government’s Zionist policy,” said Michelle Kisiya, a 54-year-old French-Israeli woman, in a phone call with FRANCE 24.
A spokesman for the regional council of Gush Etzion, a cluster of Jewish settlements south of Bethlehem, told FRANCE 24 that the disputed land has belonged to a subsidiary of the Jewish National Fund since 1969. “Twenty years ago, the Kasiya [sic] family invaded it illegally,” he said.
These settlements include the new town of Nahal Heletz in Gush Etzion, close to the Kisiya family plot.
Read more on FRANCE 24 English
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