There is a very green and deep valley between Jerusalem and Bethlehem that has been known since antiquity as the Garden of Jerusalem. Battir is the greenest part of Palestine. It is blessed with extensive sources of water. The deep valley is lined by terraced gardens that produce the best vegetables and fruits of the country, plus olives and vines.

It is an area which obviously has the remains of the presence of man since antiquity. It is an important area for Roman, Canaanite, Jewish and Muslim heritage.

There are rock tombs everywhere in the valley. There are important monuments. There are the so-called ‘palaces’ which are actually watch towers. Jewish and Muslim burial monuments. And there is the important village of Battir.

But above all there is a unique system of water collection and distribution that has changed very little since Roman times. This has made it possible for the valley to have a constant supply of water, even in summer, enabling the villagers to grow vegetables the whole year round.

This unique system, still in use today, divides the week in eight days. Each head of the eight main families of the village of Battir takes a larger amount of the water on one day and the rest is then divided between the other seven families. So each of the families have one day when they have a larger amount of the water available in their Roman pools. This singular management system is not only unique and ancient but still in perfect use today.

It is an important area for Roman, Canaanite, Jewish and Muslim heritage

The terraced fields are in themselves very distinct in the region as they sustain a green valley all year round thanks to the ample supply of water. Olives and vines are extensively cultivated here.

But this idyllic landscape is facing a very difficult and uncertain future. Since the valley links Jerusalem and Bethlehem, the train that links these two cities always passed through the valley. There has been a long-standing agreement between the Israelis and the Palestinians that if the train is not attacked in any way, the Palestinians will be allowed to cross the tracks and take care of the fields beyond, even though the Israelis do not recognise this area as Palestinian territory.

As the Israelis are building more and more new settlements on the other side of the valley, they want to build the infamous wall right through this landscape, ostensibly to protect the train. (A more modern train route does not go through the valley.)

The villagers of Battir went to the Israeli Supreme Court to stop the building of the wall. The Israeli Park Department is also against the wall, as are some Israeli non-governmental organisations.

The Palestinians have prepared an Emergency Dossier to present the cultural landscape of Battir to be nominated as a Unesco World Heritage site but have temporarily refrained from presenting it in the hope that an agreement can be reached on the future of this important landscape.