• Director(s):

    SCHNEIDER (Uri)

  • Producer(s):

    ARTE GEIE

  • Territories:

    Worldwide.

  • Production year:

    2013

  • Language(s):

    German, French

  • Rights:

    TV, DVD, NON-THEATRICAL, INTERNET, VOD

Battir, which lies to the south east of Jerusalem, could soon be designated a World Heritage site by UNESCO.

The aim of the World Heritage application is to protect a unique system of irrigation that is today threatened by the construction of the 700 kilometre-long separation barrier, the security fence that Israel wants.
The small village with its unique landscape, built on the side of the hills below Bethlehem, has an asset of inestimable value: terraced farming land that is over 4,000 years old. The village also boasts a system of stone-bordered canals that supply water from the village sources to the neighbouring plateaux where vineyards and olive trees are grown. The site provides a living for the entire village, still today.
The wall passing through the area would be fatal for the ecological balance of the valley. And the locals - most of them peasants - would no longer be able to access their fields without undergoing identity control. Far from giving up, Battir has requested a revision of the line that is to pass through its land.