Villagers of Jab’a to Work Their Land After Settler Vandalism

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Over two days, Thursday the 25th and Friday the 26th of May, the villagers of Jab’a, south-west of Bethlehem will attempt to access and work their land, from 9am till 3pm.The villagers will bring agricultural equipment to develop the over-grown land. Settler intimidation and violence had, until very recently, prevented them from accessing.

Last month, with the support of international and Israeli activists the villagers were able to work the land for the first time in 5 years. A few days later, settlers herded 150 goats onto the land, where they destroyed the village’s crops.

Jab’a is a Palestinian village of 900 people, which has 4000 dunams of land, 200 of which will be de-facto annexed to Israeli after the building of the illegal apartheid wall there. It is near the Gush Etziyon settlement block and faces frequent problems with settler violence.

This action is supported by the Popular Committee from nearby Beit Ommar. The people of Beit Omar recently held a similar land access action in their village. See the report from the 18th of April on www.palsolidarity.org entitled “Jab’a Ploughs its Land” for an account of the last such action in Jab’a.

For more information call:
Mosa Abu Mariya: 054 583 8925
ISM Media office 02 297 1924