Israel continues building a mammoth barrier in the name of border security. Opponents charge that it’s carving more land for Jewish settlements — and assaulting Palestinians’ human rights.
Sept. 18, 2006, WEST BANK: “We haven’t seen our land since January last year,” says Abdul Ra’uf Khalid, sitting in his home in the Palestinian village of Jayyus. The Khalid family’s 5.5 acres lie on the Israeli side of the separation barrier, which in Jayyus consists of a tall electric fence winding its way across the hilly, rural terrain. The Khalids have greenhouses, and olive, citrus and fruit trees, on the land but aren’t allowed to cross the divide to tend them. “The apricots and peaches are falling from the trees and rotting,” says Abdul’s wife, Itaf. Stuck here, restless and unable to work, the Khalids appear to be deteriorating in similar fashion.
Along much of the West Bank’s border with Israel a similar story is unfolding. It is a story of land, livelihood and a way of life lost to Israel’s rising barrier, known as the “security” or “separation fence” by its supporters and the “apartheid wall” by its opponents. In June 2002, the Israeli government approved the building of the first stage of a physical barrier separating the Jewish state from the West Bank. In July 2004, the International Courts of Justice deemed the wall illegal and called for its removal. Now, the wall — built from various combinations of concrete, razor wire and electric fencing — is 51 percent complete, and construction of the rest continues apace.
The ghettoization of the southern part of the West Bank has escalated recently with confiscation orders being issued for the Apartheid Wall, settler-only roads and the expansion of settlements. Last Friday an order for the confiscation of a further 100 dunums of agricultural land was issued in Al Khadr village southwest of Bethlehem for the continuation of the building of the Wall. At the weekly demonstration in Al Khadr last Friday hundreds of residents marched from the town square after prayers to the site of the Wall in protest.
In other areas in the south, confiscation orders were issued for the continuation of the Wall and the construction of a new settler-only road linking the Gush Etzion settlement block, the Karmel settlement south of Hebron and 1948 Palestine. Israel has been seeking international funding since 2004 for 52 settler-only roads totalling 500 kilometers.
Military orders confiscating 152 dunums of land were handed out in the towns of Um Salamuna, Beit Fajjar and Beit Ummar on 7th September to allow a 6.6km continuation of the wall around the Gush Etzion settlement block. A military terminal will be built in southwest Bethlehem at Um Salamuna.
In Um Salamuna the Wall will annex 200 dunums of land and uproot more than 800 olive trees 1500 grape vines and a large number of almond trees and other pine trees. Seven extended families from the town are entirely dependent on this land.
In Beit Fajar, the wall will isolate 1000 dunums, planted with grapes, olive trees and almonds. One resident said:
“This land will be annexed to Migdal Oz settlement and the owners are forbidden to access their land, and especially the soldiers and settlers have tried many times to buy the land, but the people refused to sell it, so they decided to take it using the wall.”
In Beit Ummar the footprint of the wall will destroy 715 dunums south of the town. Alterations to the route of the wall mean that it will now isolate 6000 dunums of farmland, rather than the original 5000. Again the land is richly planted with grape vines, olive trees and almonds. A further 750 dunums from is to be confiscated from the south of the town for the construction of the new settler-only road.
In the last two months occupation forces have begun uprooting land to the south of the town in order to expand Karme Zur settlement. The settlement is to be surrounded by an electrified fence annexing a further 450 dunums.
A few months ago villagers from Beit Ummar and international supporters successfully resisted the destruction of agricultural land for the expansion of Karme Zur by blocking bulldozers. Although a lawyer representing Beit Ummar and Halhul villages managed to get a temporary stop work order from an Israeli court the bulldozers continued to destroy land. :
Your presence is needed for the Olive Harvest 2006 in Palestine!
Palestinian communities are calling for the presence of international activists to support them in the 2006 Olive Harvest. Throughout the West Bank and Gaza, Palestinian land continues to be stolen for illegal Israeli colonies and the Apartheid Wall as well as settler roads, checkpoints, and closed military zones.
Since October 2000, hundreds of thousands of olive trees have been bulldozed, uprooted, or burned by the Israeli military and Israeli settler colonists. The olive tree has been a native symbol for Palestinians for hundreds of years. As well as a source of livelihood and a symbol of the people’s bond to their land, the olive tree is also a powerful symbol of cooperation between peoples.
Cooperative actions between internationals and Palestinians have concentrated around the olive tree. Palestinian communities remain steadfast and are strengthened in refusing to give up their olive harvest. The solidarity offered by international activists enables many families to pick their olives and stay in their communities.
ISM will be providing training, media and legal support to international activists in response to the demand from local communities. Activists will use their creativity, determination and courage to support these communities at this important time of year. There is an especially big need for the campaign this year, as a big harvest is expected. Ground work has been done by ISM activists in the Nablus region on making contacts with at least 18 villages in the region who would like to have international accompaniment because of dangers they will face from Israeli colonists, and obstruction and harassment from the Israeli army. Many of these villages have worked with internationals before.
An international presence makes it less likely that Palestinian farmers and landowners will be met with brutal and sometimes lethal violence as they care for their land and harvest their olives.
The Olive Harvest Campaign, part of the people’s non-violent resistance to the occupation, will begin 15th October and last until the middle of December. Some villages have expressed a desire for internationals from mid-October although most villages we have contacted will start picking after the three day religious holiday of Eid il Fitr, which is expected to be from October 25-27. The majority of villages will be picking during November. The first Olive Harvest orientation and training will be held on October 15th and 16th and will continue every Sunday and Monday until the end of the Olive Harvest. During Eid il Fitr there will be no olive picking. Olive harvesting is expected to be finished by the middle of December. Please contact Hisham at hishamjamjoum@yahoo.com for questions about training.
Please register to join us at: palsolidarity.org
For more information, please contact info@palsolidarity.org
or see: palsolidarity.org
Important Notes
It is recommended that you stay for at least two weeks, though if this is not possible, your presence anytime throughout the duration of the campaign is appreciated.
As a guide, it will cost you approximately $100 per week for food, accommodation and travel in Palestine.
The two-day training and orientation is mandatory for activists participating in the non-violent resistance including the Olive Harvest.
Updated 14th September: the paragraph in this call about dates has been updated and clarified.
Ongoing Campaigns
In the meantime, we also invite internationals to join our on-going efforts to support Palestinian non-violent resistance all over the West Bank. In recent months Israeli aggression has increased in the West Bank whilst more international attention has been focused on Israeli atrocities in Lebanon and Gaza.
Palestinians in the Tel Rumeida district of Hebron suffer some of the worst settler violence in the West Bank. There has been an international presence in Tel Rumeida for 1 1/2 years. Activists who have attended ISM training have a permanent presence in the international apartment in Tel Rumeida. The work there involves accompanying Palestinian schoolchildren to school and protecting them from and documenting attacks by settlers. Internationals also maintain a presence on the streets in the settlement to document and intervene in the regular settler attacks on local Palestinian residents.
Israeli settler colonists in other areas in the Hebron region also frequently attack and intimidate Palestinian farmers. This involves physical assaults or the destruction of farmland. As with the Olive Harvest the presence of internationals enables farmers to work their land. This summer, internationals supported farmers in this way around Beit Omar village. Although the Wall has been largely built in the northern West Bank and around Jerusalem, land is currently being destroyed for the route of the Wall in the south of the West Bank, in the Bethlehem and Hebron regions. Internationals have supported weekly demonstrations against the Wall this summer in Al Khadr village west of Bethlehem as well as participating in actions around Karme Zur settlement between Halhoul and Beit Omar. There will be continuous non-violent resistance to land theft and the destruction of olive trees, vines and other agricultural land in the Hebron region.
In Bil’in village west of Ramallah, the illegal Apartheid Wall has stolen over half of the village’s agricultural land. Internationals have supported their 1 1/2 year struggle against the Wall which has focused around weekly Friday demonstrations. Internationals aim to maintain a permanent presence in the village which has been targeted by Israeli forces for its non-violent resistance.
Training Dates
We hold trainings every Sunday and Monday if there are at least 5 people. Please contact Hisham at hishamjamjoum@yahoo.com for questions about training.
Today, September 1, 2006, in the village of al-Khadr, in the Bethlehem region, Palestinian and international solidarity workers removed a razor wire barrier serving as a preliminary basis for the Apartheid Wall. During the action, approximately 100 Palestinian and international demonstrators led a non-violent march and were stopped by Israeli Occupation soldiers on their way towards the Apartheid Wall.
The residents of the village left Friday prayers at the mosque and joined with international solidarity activists in a march through the village. The demonstrators waved Palestinian flags and carried a banner reading, “This Wall Imprisons Palestinians in a Ghetto,” written in Arabic and English. After approximately fifteen minutes of marching, the demonstrators were stopped by a large force of Israeli Occupation soldiers. The soldiers took up positions on an earth mound road block and prevented the Palestinians and internationals from reaching the Apartheid Wall. At this site, armed Occupation forces assembled with armored military jeeps as well as border police jeeps.
While the Palestinians and internationals were demonstrating in front of the soldiers, five international activists and two Palestinian activists separated from the group and traveled to the site of a razor wire barrier. Once the activists reached the fence, they removed many metal stakes which secured the barrier, and rolled a section of the barrier, approximately 150 meters in length, down a hill towards route 60. The activists were able to complete this task as Israeli Occupation forces arrived, and were able to avoid confrontation or arrest.
The razor wire is used in conjunction with a series of road blocks and checkpoints to separate the Palestinian communities from neighboring Israeli settler-colonies. The barriers and road blocks bisect Palestinian communities and create a “buffer” zone for the future construction of the Israeli Apartheid Wall. In contrast to the northern area of the West Bank where the Apartheid Wall is nearly completed, there is ongoing construction in the south that had been continually met with Palestinian non-violent resistance. The demonstration in al-Khadr today is but one example of this resistance, as are weekly demonstrations in Bil’in and other communities in the north, central and southern West Bank.
For more Information:
ISM Media Office: 02-2971824
The Israeli army says it will forbid entry foreign visitors access to all of the the occupied territories in the West Bank, according to a June 22nd article in the Israeli newspaper Ma’ariv. Although the apparent goal for this seemingly impossible task is to keep international visitors from entering the occupied territories in support of Palestinian non-violent resistance, if it is implimented it could also stop tourists and religious pilgrims from visiting Biblical sites.
“The [Israeli] army will issue a decree forbidding the entry of foreign citizens into Judea and Samaria” reads a Hebrew-only print article in Ma’ariv published on June 22nd 2006. “Judea and Samaria” is Biblical terminology for the occupied Palestinian territories in the West Bank. Tourists including Christian pilgrims may find themselves banned from many important holy, Biblical and tourist sites, such as the Christian communities in Bethlehem, Aboud and Jericho, and the Samaritan community near Nablus. In Aboud, the shrine of St. Barbara is threatened by Israel’s wall.
According to the article, the purpose of the ban is to “prevent the ‘Summer of Peace’ [Freedom Summer] event which is planned by the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), a pro-Palestinian organization which is active in the territories on behalf of the Palestinian population”. Through Freedom Summer, Palestinians in communities throughout the occupied territories invite internationals and Israelis to participate in non-violent demonstrations and direct actions against the annexation of Palestinian land.
A similar ban has been in effect in the Gaza strip since April 2003. Very few foreign visitors have been allowed to visit Gaza. Certain journalists and workers for select international organisations have been granted time-limited permits by Israel, but even these are not easy to obtain. This ban has remained in effect after Israel’s unilateral “disengagement” from the Gaza strip. Only Palestinians with Israeli-issued ID cards are permitted to access through the Rafah crossing, even though it was supposedly transferred to Palestinian control with European observers. All other entry and exit points to the Gaza strip remain under Israeli control.
The announcement of this ban comes at a time when foreign aid workers and foreign nationals of Palestinian origin and their families are experiencing increased Israeli restrictions on their right to reside in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. A number of individuals residing for long periods in the Occupied Territories for work or family reasons who had been renewing three month Israeli visas by periodically leaving the country and returning were recently denied entry by Israeli authorities or told they will not be allowed to return.
For more information call:
ISM media office: 02-297 1824
