Elderly woman keeps promise made to father to protect his land

Jewish colonists of the Qaddoumim colony call 70-year-old Bahiya Ahmad Hussain Sharma the land-crazy woman which she takes as a compliment.

Bahiya, from the Palestinian town of Kafr Qaddum, in the northern Occupied West Bank, braves her way into the colony every day to protect her olive and fig trees, located in the heart of Qaddoumim. Death threats haven’t deterred her from a promise she made to her father to safeguard his land. Since he died in 1992, protecting the 13 acres of land has been Bahiya’s obsession.

All of her siblings left Palestine and cannot return as they do not have identity cards — so she carries the sole responsibility of fulfilling her father’s wishes.

“Colonists have tempted me with blank cheques to sell the land, some even attempted to run me over me with trucks and bulldozers, but they were never able to stop me from protecting my property,” she told Gulf News.

She said she has had guns pointed to her head so many times she cannot remember and her olive trees have been uprooted several times.

When death threats and money didn’t work, the colonists resorted to trickery.

They showed her a paper allegedly signed by her father, saying that he granted them the right to eat figs from his trees.

On another occasion, they offered Bahiya a ladder to help her tend to the trees. When they asked her to sign the paper for the ladder, she flatly refused, knowing it was a ploy to get her signature to take away her land.

Qaddoumim was one of the first Jewish colonies built after Israeli occupied the West Bank in 1967.

“The colonists, especially youngsters, regularly hurl stones at me,” she said. Despite reporting the attacks to the Israeli occupation forces, the attacks continue — probably because the attackers are not properly disciplined for their actions. “I am always afraid but I have never shown them my fear,” she said.

Despite being illiterate, Bahiya has an extensive understanding of Israeli law and speaks Hebrew.

“I know my rights under Israeli law and am not afraid to demand them,” she said.

She used legal channels to block several attempts by the colonists to run sewage and water pipelines through her land.

She also turned down an invitation to attend her nephew’s wedding in Amman out of fear that her land would be taken if left unattended — even for a short period of time.

Bahiya also turned down several marriage proposals because she says her responsibility to guard the land is too demanding.

source: GULF NEWS