The al-Ma’sara Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements
13 November 2009
In memory of the fifth year since the death of Yaser Arafat, who was poisoned by the Israeli army, villagers of Al-Ma’sara gathered today along with Israeli and international activists in protest against the illegal Apartheid Wall and settlement building. The protesters raised Palestinian flags and banners demanding that farmers be allowed to access their lands to pick olives. As every Friday for the past three years, they were intercepted by Israeli soldiers who had put up a fence of barb wire at the entrance to the village, effectively cutting off the villager’s access to their lands.
Demonstrators chanted against the discriminatory policies of the occupation and reminded that only this morning, farmers who were picking olives on their lands in the surrounding villagers were harassed by settlers while Israeli soldiers stood by. In Arabic and English, protestors asked the soldiers to reconsider what they were doing and join those Palestinian, Israeli and international civilians on this side who abide by the international human rights and who work together for just peace.
Protestors attempted to remove the barb wire and continue their march towards their lands and the site of the Wall. A woman from the village asked the Israeli soldiers what they were doing here in her village and pushed them out of her way, succeeding in continuing her walk towards Um Salamoneh, defiantly carrying the Palestinian flag.