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"Nothing could be salvaged from the land. Then, just 4 days later, they came back with their tanks and leveled the land until all of it was finally flat."
Doing so caused irreparable financial turmoil and emotional trauma. "I felt completely destroyed when they bulldozed my farm," he explained. "I had been cultivating that land since 2001, when my father died and left it to me."
"It was destroyed in the Second Intifada, but I had worked very hard to plant new olive trees and put in an irrigation system. My mother had a nervous breakdown when they were bulldozing the land. She was shouting and crying and we had to rush her to hospital. My wife was also hysterical."
His out-of-pocket loss was about $20,000. "My land is not even within the 300 meters considered to be the buffer zone, yet it was destroyed," he added. "My irrigation pipes are now useless."
"I used to feed my family from that land and sell the extra produce in the market. I currently have no other source of income and no other occupation. When the opportunity arises, I work on other people's farms to make a few shekels."
"Life has just been hard since 12 June. I had taken out a loan before the land was destroyed to rebuild the farm. Now, I have no way of paying back this loan."
"My neighbors gave me a bale of wheat because we have nothing to eat, but it will not feed us forever. It pains me that I could not even afford to buy my children school bags."
Youssef said he's resigned to abject poverty. He sees no hope for himself or his family. "My children are well aware of our situation and the troubles we are facing. They told me that they just want to live a normal life. I also want that, but I have lost all hope now."
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