Salfit has been announced a closed military zone

Curfew was imposed on the village of Marda at 5:30 AM, and the entire area of Marda, Iskaka, and Salfit was declared a closed military zone. The Civil Administration informed Israeli activist Laiser Peles from Tel Aviv, who protested the curfew, that the village was being punished because some residents had thrown stones. Soldiers and border police repeatedly entered the village from 5.30 AM onward, throwing sound bombs and firing tear gas, rubber bullets and live ammunition into the air and into a home, breaking its window. Approximately 20 Palestinians were treated for tear gas inhalation, among them a Red Crescent ambulance worker who was injured when a tear gas canister was fired at an ambulance. In addition, a 25-year-old Palestinian was arrested.

Two days ago the military dispatched hundreds of soldiers in the area and fired approximately 200 canisters of tear gas in two hours to prevent protestors from coming near the site of their uprooted trees. One farmer was taken to Rafidiya hospital and two Red Crescent ambulances treated 20 Palestinians.

Today Thursday June 9 a hundred people began to march in the direction of the construction site of the Annexation Barrier Wall in Salfit. They were still at the outskirts of the village when the Israeli military fired large amounts of tear gas and sound bombs at them. Soldiers arrived and announced the area a “Closed Military Zone.” When Israeli activist Jonathan Pollak responded that the area was “An Open Palestinian Zone,” he was arrested. Five Palestinians required medical treatment for tear gas inhalation and three Palestinians were beaten until they lost consciousness. They were taken to the hospital by Red Crescent ambulances. In addition, one international and one elderly Israeli activist have been arrested. If the Wall is completed as planned, the town of Salfit will lose 6,500 dunums (1625 acres), more than 25% of its land.

Tomorrow, Friday June 10th, villagers and supporters will meet at 10:30 am in the center of Marda to walk to the land where their olive trees are being uprooted. The farmers of Marda will attempt to hold prayer service on their land. Marda has seen at least 1000 trees cut and an unknown number uprooted in the past week to make way for the Ariel loop of the Annexation Wall, 20 kilometers (12.2 miles) east of the Green Line.