The end of a long battle for the Beit Jala community in the shadow of the wall

Tomorrow, Israel’s Supreme Court may issue a final decision in a case which has seen the peaceful Cremisan Valley community in Beit Jala, West Bank, drawn into an 8 year battle. The community has been fighting against Israel’s defence ministry’s plans to sever the Valley with the construction of the Separation Wall.

The small town of Beit Jala, which lies on the outskirts of Bethlehem is home to the only Palestinian vineyard in the West Bank. For over 150 years monks, from the Salesian order, have made the famous Cremisan wine from the grapes that grow in the Valley.

The small religious community has flourished on the fertile slopes, and today the area is home to the Salesian Sisters of Cremisan’s convent, the Salesian monastery, a school, 58 families and the Cremisan Cellars.

If plans go ahead, not only will the valley itself be severed but a ruling last year proposed that the convent, and adjacent school, remain on the Palestinian side of the wall, with the Cremisan monastery and winery on the Israeli side. The nuns would lose access to 75 percent of their land and the school which has been run by the Salesian Sisters since it was built in 1960 and which serves 400 children, would be situated in a military zone surrounded by the separation wall.

The sisters were first informed of the plans in 2006. After objections the Israeli Ministry of Defence proposed that the convent remain on the West Bank side of the Wall. The nuns, who did not want to be separated from the children their school provides education to, strongly opposed the notion of being placed on the Israeli side.

Wednesday’s potential decision is of vital importance to the religious community’s future. The Anica Heinlein, from the Society of St. Yves, which is representing the nuns, says that if this latest ruling goes against them, there will be no further legal remedies. She says that even if the decision is not issued tomorrow, it will be released in the coming days. In April 2013, an appeal against the route of the separation wall was lost.

While Aprils appeal was lost, based upon Israel’s security needs, the Cremisan Valley’s location between two illegal Israel settlements; Har Gilo and Gilo makes it likely that there is an ulterior motive. The case’s attorney argues that Israel’s desire to connect the two settlements, which house a combined total of 35,500 Jewish settlers, lies behind the plans to build the Separation Wall.

Father Ibrahim Shomali, Beit Jala’s parish priest said, “When people suffer, the Church must be near them. This is not politics. This is human rights and this is Christians who must be defended.”

Aside from the internal voices of the Salesian community, the case of the Cremisan Valley has bought the small, peaceful village in Beit Jala into the forefront of a global debate. The Archbishop of Westminster, England’s most senior Catholic, joined the battle against the Wall after a visit to Beit Jala in November of 2011. He offered prayers including to help village with their “legal battle to protect their land and homes from further expropriation by Israel.”William Hague, Britain’s Foreign Minister, sent a letter to the Archbishop expressing his shared concerns over the after of the community.

Issa Kassissieh, Palestine’s ambassador to the Vatican, which owns the land threatened with confiscation, told Ma’an News, “The pope is coming as a peace pilgrimage to the Holy Land to build bridges and here we are seeing that a wall is being erected.”

“This is a way of exodus. This is a way of pushing people out and there is no legitimate grounds for this confiscation by the Israelis, so we hope that the power of logic will prevail and not the logic of power.”

If the verdict goes against them, it will be a dark day for the community, who have held weekly masses, in peaceful protest against the walls construction since 2011. The eight foot concrete partition will cast a shadow over the valley, and its inhabitants and sever the Salesian Order. On the slopes of the Cremisan, supporters gathered for the final mass on Friday, marking the end of a long, tiring battle.

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