On the November 16th, the Palestinian grassroots organized an event in Azzun Atma village, south Qalqiliya, against the continuing destruction of their land, which began on November 13th. Occupation forces aim to construct a second Wall that will cut the village into two parts, isolating the land on the western side.
Despite the closure of Azzun Atma and the restrictions placed on Palestinians from the surrounding villages, hundreds of people marched to protest the occupation and destruction of Palestinian land. Farmers, politicians, and near-by village representatives marched to the lands threatened by the Occupation. Around 300 people participated in this event. A sizable Occupation force blocked people from going closer than 150m to the land and also restricted journalists from taking photographs of the construction area. The march ended with a sit-in near the threatened lands.
Amjad Omar, the Campaign local coordinator in the village, said: “this new section of the Apartheid Wall will cut the village into two parts and isolate many lands and water wells as well as demolishing parts of houses for the wall footprint”.
He also added that the farmers have successfully managed to delay construction during the past few days through daily demonstrations and the closing of “holes” made in the ground for the Wall. “The occupation bulldozers needed to come back every day to dig again these holes” he said. Around 4000 dunums of Azzun Atma village lands will be isolated behind the Apartheid Wall.
At 11am on Thursday, the Palestinians of Azun Atme will hold a non-violent protest against the construction by Israel of a wall surrounding and isolating their village. Israeli and international supporters will take part in the demonstration.
The Israeli apartheid wall will completely ghettoize the Palestinian village if it follows the planned route declared by the Israeli government. It is feared that ten houses and large tracts of agricultural land will be cut off from the rest of the village and effectively annexed to Israel.
Azun Atme, in the Qalqilya region and near the village of Mas’ha, is already surrounded on both sides by illegal Israeli settlements. The village is about 2 km outside of Israel and within the internationally recognized Green Line, or 1949 ceasefire line.
For more information call:
Jonathan Pollack: 054 632 7736
ISM Media office: 02 297 1824 or 059 994 3157
Today, July 26th at 8:30pm at Azzun checkpoint near Qalqilya, Palestinian Grandfather Mahmood Ahmed Sumha, 68 years old from the village of Jayyous died from complications resulting from heart disease. He was on his way to hospital when the ambulance he was in was stopped by the Israeli army at one of their checkpoints. Contrary to international law, soldiers at the checkpoint refused to let the ambulance pass.
According to official Israeli army policy, “the checkpoint commander will allow a person to cross the checkpoint (including entry into Israel) to obtain medical treatment, even if the individual does not have the requisite approval, if an urgent medical emergency is involved.” See B’Tselem website, “Infringement of the Right to Medical Treatment” (1) Mahmood’s ID number was 929535110.
Mahmood was placed on a stretcher and those with him attempted to cross the checkpoint on foot. Once again, they were blocked from doing so by soldiers.
Mahmood died shortly afterwards.
For more information, contact:
Mustafa Samha (the victim’s nephew) 0545 688 392
Mansour Mansour 0545 804 830
Today in Izbat Tabib, in the Qalqiliya region, over 250 Palestinian, Israeli and international activists successfully removed a land mound road block in order to open a crossing for commercial and pedestrian traffic. Despite the military and border police’s excessive use of tear gas and sound grenades, activists were successful in holding a non violent demonstration, and worked in solidarity to remove the concrete blocks, boulders and gravel with their hands.
Izbat Tabib is a small village of 300 inhabitants near Qalqiliya. It was established in 1920 and in 1948 it received an influx of refugees from Tubsur, which stood where Raánana is now. The residents of the village are all recognized as refugees (by UNRWA) but the village is not recognized as a refugee camp by Israel. The Israeli government has issued demolition orders for most of the buildings in the village which has motivated the community to organize.
Around 11am, residents of Izbat Tabib along with supporters met for a rally which was disturbed, when two Israeli border police armored jeeps drove through the area provoking the crowd. Following the rally, the attendees marched through the village towards the road block, and though several tear gas rounds were fired into the village, after a brief pause the marchers proceeded peacefully.
The marches reached the earth mound road block and quickly began dismantling the site. Some used hoes to chop rocks and move dirt, while others used small rocks to dig and shovel. While some were digging, others attached straps to the hefty concrete barriers and joined together in large groups to pull the barriers down. Though it took several hours to clear the large concrete blocks, they were successfully dragged away through the strength of many. The demonstrators worked together for hours to remove the rocks, shovel the dirt and drag the concrete blocks until the road block was opened large enough to allow for car traffic. When they were finished, several cars triumphantly drove through the road block.
During the action, approximately 30 Israeli soldiers and police stood watch and occasionally harassed the crowd. In order to prevent military violence a large team of internationals formed a human wall between the soldiers and the road block. This helped to prevent the soldiers from firing into the crowd in order to disperse the demonstrators.
After the road block had been removed, the soldiers began to move quickly towards the workers and opened fire with sound bombs and live ammunition. The soldiers attempted to frighten the demonstrators by aiming some machine guns at the demonstrators while other shot into the air. Despite their efforts, the demonstrators remained steadfast and slowly returned back to the village having accomplished their goal. During the military assault, one international activist was injured when shrapnel from a sound grenade struck him. Despite the Israeli military’s attempts to prevent activists from reaching the action through the use of ‘flying’ checkpoints, Palestinian supporters were able to reach the action and work in solidarity.
Approximately 90 minutes after the demonstrators had left the road block, the Israeli military used bulldozers to reestablish the obstruction and closed the entire crossing. When news of this reached the village, international supporters returned to the crossing and forced the military to allow pedestrian traffic through the crossing through negotiation, observation and accompaniment.
At 11am tomorrow the villagers of Isbat Tabib, in the Qalqilya region will hold a demonstration against Israel’s annexation barrier in the region. The village is calling on Israelis and internationals to join them for a Conference tomorrow, Saturday July 15th in support of their sumud (steadfastness) against the wall and the continued construction of the village’s kindergarten and health center in defiance of Israeli building restrictions in the area. The village’s kindergarten and health center is earmarked by the Israeli military for destruction.
Izbat Tabib is a small village of 300 inhabitants near Qalqiliya. It was established in 1920 and in 1948 it received an influx of refugees from Tubsur, which stood where Raánana is now. The residents of the village are all recognized as refugees (by UNRWA) but the village is not recognized as a refugee camp. It is not recognized at all by the Israeli government which has issued demolition orders for most of the buildings in the village.
This small village has been assaulted by the Israeli occupation in ways which would have destroyed much larger communities. Much of its lands were taken by the wall, basic infrastructure such as a connection to the electric grid and permanent roofs for buildings is denied and most recently, the main exit from the village was blocked by an earth mound. The mere existence of Izbat Tabib is a continuing act of resistance in the form of sumud.
For more information call
Michael: 054 2369511
ISM Media: 02 297 1824 or 0599 943 157
