User:Oceanflynn/sandbox/Ein al-Qaws

It is possible this may never become an article in the main Wikipedia pages. It provides texture to a complex situation.

Ein al-Qaws is a spring near the village of An Nabi Salih. "‘Ein Al Qaws is the biggest of five springs located along the Raya valley, which extends between the villages of An Nabi Salih and Deir Nidham in the northwest section of the Ramallah governorate. The two villages, with a combined population of 1,600, are part of the same “land block” (an administrative division for land registration and taxation purposes), which covers 4,765 dunams. The Raya valley is considered the most fertile area within this block...In addition to the official land seizures, since the beginning of the second Intifada in 2000, settlers have gradually taken over 450 dunams of the Raya valley that fall outside the official boundaries of Hallamish, and de-facto annexed them to the settlement (see Map). The takeover entailed the fencing of these areas, the opening of roads within it and the cultivation of the land (see photo in p.18)."

Eytomology
Nabi Salih’s natural spring, Ein al-Qaws means Bow Spring.

Location
"Next to Halamish is an Israeli military base, and in the valley between Nabi Saleh and the settlement, across the highway and up a dirt path, a small freshwater spring, which Palestinians had long called Ein al-Qaws, bubbles out of a low stone cliff..."

Source of water for Nabi Saleh
Prior to 2009, Bassem Tamimi leased the land to Munjed Tamimi, from Deir Nidham village, which provided an income for Ahed Tamimi, her siblings and her mother. The spring met both "domestic and livelihood needs" for the village. The spring provided irrigation for Munjed Tamimi and "ten other farmers who cultivated olives, almond, Common fig trees and some crops in the Raya valley. Herders also used spring water. Bassem Tamimi had "regularly cultivated" the acre with wheat, cucumbers, and tomatoes which they sold for extra income or consumed as a household.

According to the Oakland Institute 2016 report, Area C, "constitutes 60 percent of the territory of the West Bank (about 300,000 hectares)"... "stretching from the "eastern slopes of the mountains of Samaria to the Jordan River" including land in western and central West Bank.

Settlers take over
According to an article in Haaretz, in 2009, settlers from Halamish, in the southwestern Samarian hills near Nabi Salih, "took control over" Ein al-Qaws and "its surroundings" to use as a spa for their settlement.

In 2009 a spring named Ein el Qaws, located near the village of Nabi Saleh, was taken over by settlers from Halamish, forcing villagers to obtain their irrigation water from other sources, the report and residents said. “The spring was used to irrigate hundreds of olive and fruit trees in the village and the children used to swim in it, now if we try to go to the spring, the settlers and soldiers come and kick us out,” said villager Nariman Tamimi.

Protests
In the Palestine Chronicle book review of Ben Ehrenreich's 2016 book Way to the Spring: Life and Death in Palestine, journalist Jim Miles described how the book documented Ehrenreich "documented his many months in the [Nabi Saleh] and in surrounding areas." The title, The Way to the Spring: Life and Death in Palestine derives from the spring, ‘Ein al Qoos (the Bow Spring), that was the main water supply for the farmers/herders of the village. The nearby settlers blocked access to the spring and subsequently, on Fridays, the people of the village accompanied by international witnesses marched in protest towards the spring, always to be met by Israeli military forces protecting the settlers access."

Settlers maintain a "regular presence of armed settlers" to block access to the spring to local farmers and herders and blocked the Tamimi family's access to their acreage.

Regional governance
Nabi Salih is located in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate, one of Governorates of Palestine also known as The Governorates of the Palestinian National Authority, which are the administrative divisions of the Palestinian Territories. The Oslo Accords, divided the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip into three areas (Area A, Area B, and Area C) and 16 governorates under the jurisdiction of the Palestinian National Authority. Israel Defense Forces Redeployments from Area C are defined by Article XI.3 of the Oslo Accord as "areas of the West Bank outside Areas A and B, which, except for the issues that will be negotiated in the permanent status negotiations, will be gradually transferred to Palestinian jurisdiction." By 2013,

The Civil Administration continued to have permanent military presence in more than 80% of the West Bank (Area B and C).

Archaeology
Ein al-Qaws was named as an archaeological site in 2009.

History
In their 1882 survey of western Palestine, Claude Reignier Conder and co-authors described "a village of moderate size on a ridge, with a small mosque and a well to the south. A spring exists about three-quarters of a mile east."

International coverage
A 2012 UN report described how Bassem Tamimi, the head of An Nabi Salih Village Council, owned about an acre of land on which the Ein al-Qaws, the village spring was located, "about three-quarters of a mile east" of the village.

Villagers from Nabi Salih and the nearby Dir Nizam began regular Friday protests for the Ein al-Qaws and against the Israeli occupation in general. The physical security of local Palestinian residents like Ahed Tamimi, deteriorated, following the "takeover of the spring". The weekly protests attracted non-local residents, even international protesters and Israeli forces.

A small international group of women called the International Women's Peace Service (IWPS), which was formed in 2002, with a humble base in a trailer in Florida, participate in the weekly protest marches to the spring to protect the local protesters. Villagers "corps of intrepid young women that villagers call “internationals.”