Never-Never Land

Wadi Foukin is a Palestinian village in the West Bank near the Green Line. Since 1985 it is surrounded by a city, Tzur Hadasa, and an illegal settlement, Beitar Illit, both belonging to the Israelis. As a result of the peace agreements of 1995 concerning the division of Palestinian lands, 93.6% of Wadi Foukin was designated as Area C (under full legal and military Israeli control), while the remaining 6.4% is Area B (under Palestinian legal control and Israeli military control). Over the past few years there has been a reckless increase of the lands confiscated in the Area C to make room for fresh Israeli settlements. In a few years Wadi Foukin could really disappear, but it is like non-existent from now, because the Israeli government has deleted it from maps and removed any road information that may indicate it.

“Never-never land” talks about the history of this small village of a thousand people, and also about the wellknown problem of the Palestinian workers in Israeli settlements. It is in this corner of the West Bank which takes place one of the greatest paradoxes of the Israeli settlements: more and more people of Wadi Foukin every day, for the subsistence of their families, work in the building sites where they build Israeli houses that gradually are wiping their homeland from the face of the earth.