Many of you know Atta Jaber, his wife Rudeina and their children. Atta is a Palestinian farmer whose extended family has lived in the Baqa’a Valley near Hebron for centuries. In this, one of the most fertile areas of Palestine, the Jaber lands were filled with vineyards, fruit orchards and small farms. For generations Atta’s own family farmed their 400 dunams of land (100 acres), living in a spacious cave behind their current home, which they still use for storage and cooking.
The family’s struggle to remain sumud (steadfast) on their land began immediately after Israel’s conquest and occupation of the West Bank in 1967. Although their deeds go back to Ottoman times, the Israeli authorities expropriated 340 dunams of their land for the construction Kiryat Arba, a large settlement under which most of Atta’s field now literally lie. In 1981, the “Civil” Administration, Israel’s military government, declared the Jaber land Israeli “State Land, and has been chipping away at it ever since. The local section of highway #60, which bisects the West Bank and incorporates it into Israel, was built over more of the Jabers’ land, including a large petrol station serving Kiryat Arba drivers.
We at ICAHD first came to know Atta and his family in 1997, when the Civil Administration, claiming Atta had impinged on “State Land,” destroyed the family farm and uprooted their crops for the first time. At the same time Atta was in the process of building a small home on his land for his growing family. Although he had spent five years and considerable money trying to obtain a building permit, it was refused, as are 99% of Palestinian building applications. With no choice, like thousands of other Palestinian families, Atta continued to build his home without a permit. The response of the Civil Administration was immediate: the family’s home was demolished in a violent assault by the army and police in which Atta was severely injured and then arrested.
Refusing to give in and having nowhere else to go, Atta insisted on rebuilding, and that task was undertaken by ICAHD in partnership with the Christian Peacemaker Teams. But in September 1998, the Civil Administration returned once again and demolished the home for the second time, this time employing extreme violence. Rudina was physically abused, Atta arrested and fined, so severely injured that he had to later seek medical treatment in Jordan.
Still the family fought on. Through legal intervention on the part of ICAHD, a truly Faustian agreement was reached with the Civil Administration whereby Atta’s third home would not be demolished if he agreed to stop farming all but 2 dunams of his land, his sole source of income.
Barely had the family moved into their third home, however, than dozens of settlers from Kiryat Arba invaded it on a Friday afternoon, violently removed Atta and his family and spent the entire Sabbath there, all under the watchful eye of the Israeli police, the army and Civil Administration officials. After Sabbath evening prayers, the settlers destroyed the furnishings, chipped away at the stone walls and burned whatever they could, and left. No one was ever arrested or charged. In 2002, Atta’s 90-year-old father fell while being pelted with stones by settler youth, shattering his leg. He never recovered and died soon after. ICAHD’s film Rooted in the West Bank made for al Jazeera documents years of settler harassment led by Kiryat Arab Mayor Malachi Levinger.
The government's plan is to dry out the Baqa’a Valley, drive out the farmers and pave it over with a large urban area dominating Hebron, which is being eaten away by settlers from within.
In 2007, due to lack of water, the Jaber family attempted to build a modest reservoir for catching rainwater; it too was demolished. (You can watch a BBC film of a previous demolition of a Jaber family reservoir, Reservoir Raiders, also on YouTube.) In 2018, the Civil Administration, concerned that Atta was cultivating a farm next to his home in violation of the agreement, sent in JCB bulldozers to destroy the stone terracing, the cistern Atta had dug to collect rainwater and the produce. One hundred and fifty fruit trees were uprooted. Atta estimates the damage at $50,000. That left the family with only the two dunam plot by the highway as their only source of livelihood. (Atta also owns a small orchard, but it has been enclosed by Kiryat Arba’s expanding fence and he has no access to it.)
On a recent Sunday, May 3, 2026, as he walked to his tiny plot of land – the place where Atta was actually born, his mother going into labor as she farmed and unable to get home in time for the birth – he encountered JCB bulldozers poised to raze the little he still has. He was informed that half of his last remaining piece of land was being taken to expand highway #60. Highway expansion is not merely a technical matter of traffic control, of course. It is part-and parcel of creating a matrix of movement that incorporates the West Bank into a “Greater” Israel. This what the present Mayor of Kiryat Arba, Israel Bramson, posted on his Facebook page:
Dear Residents,
We are making history – the widening of Highway 60 has begun! We are laboring without stop constructing and developing Kiryat Arba and its surroundings. I am happy to write you that after intensive, tireless work, meeting well into the night and ceaseless efforts with all the relevant authorities – the work to widen Highway 60 has begun!
We are speaking of a strategic project of the first order that will transform the landscape completely. This is not just a highway – this is a shortcut to Jerusalem, a direct connection to the metropolis, with the safety of the drivers foremost – a significant upgrading of our quality of life and security. We are working in complete cooperation with Nativei Israel [the governmental infrastructure company] and the local contractors.… Great thanks to Minister of Transportation Miri Regev and Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich for expediating the project and making it happen. We are continuing with all our strength to consolidate the City of the Patriarchs {Hebron, which Kiryat Arba considers it a part of] as the capital of Judah!
In the meantime, Atta's struggle goes on. He and his beloved donkey Samour continue plowing the single dunam – a quarter acre – that temporarily remains. Palestinian farmers never die; they remain sumud.
ICAHD stands with Atta and his family now as we have for decades - and materially as well. You are welcome to contribute to an Emergency Fund for him.
Donations may be made by bank transfer to: Bank - Lloyds Bank Bank account - ICAHD UK Account number - 61603263 Sort code - 30-99-50
For transfers from outside the UK, the following will be required: IBAN - GB23LOYD30995061603263 BIC / SWIFT code - LOYDGB21287
(Please include 'Atta Jaber' in reference)
Donations from the USA may be made via this link. Scroll down to the green box.
Article posted 22 May 2026