Salah is a 45-year-old farmer, father of six. Recently, he has been affected by the construction of a road that would  bypass a section of the existing Road 55 running through An Nabi Elyas village.

Road 55 connects the cities of Nablus and Qaliqiliya, and also connects several settlements with Israel.

According to the Israeli authorities, the large volume of traffic on Road 55 generated a range of safety concerns.

An Israeli media report indicated that although the original plan for this road was approved over 20 years ago, the decision to implement it came in a 2015 agreement between the Israeli Prime Minister and an Israeli settler body (the Yesha Council).

❝The four and half dunums of land I own, where I stand now, has been confiscated for the construction of the bypass road,❞ Salah told us.

❝The plot of land was my sole source of income. It had about one hundred olive trees, a few almond and fig trees, and vines.

❝The type of olive trees I had was not large and this allowed us to make use of the land between the trees to grow other fodder crops for animals and chickens. We even grew lentils and chickpeas sometimes.

❝My wife and I used to go to the land and tend it almost every day. The money we made from our produce was just about enough for the whole year.❞