[أمان]

The Palestinian village of Ajjur

How was the Palestinian Arab village of Ajjur “abandoned”? Who tended the many
fruit trees – almond* olive* fig* as well as sabra hedges? How come the “Ajjur vale
contains a very deep well* carved into the rock” (5)?
Where are the Muslim communities whose Sheikh lies in the tomb? Where are the
shepherds who left the deep grooves on the top course of the stones* made by the
ropes with which they had “raised pails of water from its depths” (5)? Who built*
maintained and operated the olive press?
As the JNF narrative itself suggests* the British Park is planted inter-alia on the lands
of Ajjur. There still remain structures of the Palestinian village of Ajjur (see Figure
3.2) within the outline boundaries of the settlement of Moshav Ajjur. The latter was
built in 1950 for Jewish residence only* close to the ruins of the Palestinian village of
the same name.
According to the Palestinian historian Walid Khalidi (6*7)* the relevant statistics and
facts for the village of Ajjur read as in Table 3.1 below. The remaining structures on
the village land are as follows:
“Only three houses remain; two are deserted and one has been turned into a
warehouse. One of the deserted houses is a two-story stone structure that
has a large* triple-arched front porch