Demonstrators peacefully block bulldozer. Credit: Oren Ziv/Activestills.orgSitting peacefully in front of the formidable D9 Caterpillar bulldozer, demonstrators were successful today in temporarily halting construction of Israel’s illegal annexation wall. In the village of Al Walaja, approximately 20 Palestinian, Israeli and international activists disrupted work on the wall for nearly 30 minutes. Highlighting the systematic racism of Israeli apartheid, soldiers specifically targeted Palestinian participants. While internationals and Israelis were virtually ignored, Palestinians were brutally beaten and pepper sprayed, resulting in three hospitalizations. Three Palestinians and one international were arrested.
Palestinians being brutally beaten. Credit: Oren Ziv/Activestills.orgAfter gathering in the village, demonstrators walked down a hillside to access the massive, dusty swath of ex-farmland where the wall is to be built. Sitting in front of the bulldozer and linking arms, the action proved successful in delaying construction of the wall which will claim nearly all of Al Walaja’s land. Approximately 15 soldiers and border police then attacked the non-violent demonstrators, separating Palestinians from the group and pepper spraying some directly in the eyes while beating others. After arresting three Palestinians, Israeli military returned to violently rip apart international and Israeli activists. Several reported minor injuries, and one international was arrested. Currently three Palestinians remain hospitalized. Beatings resulted in one broken rib and one broken leg, and a third victim has impaired hearing due to receiving pepper spray directly in the ear. Of those arrested, at least one had been pepper sprayed directly in the eyes without receiving proper medical treatment afterwards.
This is third time bulldozers have been stopped in Al Walaja, which is located between Jerusalem and Bethlehem. After 1967, the village was annexed into Jerusalem, although villagers did not receive city residency. The settlements Gilo and Har Gilo are located on Al Walaja land, although villagers cannot build on their own lots. Because the village is in “Area C”, building permits must be granted by the Israeli government. Between 2000 and 2007, over 94% of permits were denied. Upon completion of the wall, Al Walaja will be almost entirely trapped, with access limited to just two guarded checkpoints. Over 5,000 dunums will be annexed into Jerusalem by the wall, virtually all of the village’s farmland.
Non-violent demonstrations against the apartheid are growing
Between Friday and Sunday, more than 600 demonstrators protested the apartheid, land confiscation and the illegal wall in eight West Bank locations. These weekly demonstrations reflect the growing momentum of popular non-violent resistance, despite violent responses by the Israeli military.
Bil’in
Four were detained in Bil’in, including two Al-Jazeera reporters, as demonstrators gathered for the popular weekly protest against the Israeli apartheid and illegal wall. After speeches given in honor of International Workers’ Day, demonstrators marched towards the wall, where they were met with tear gas fired by Israeli soldiers. Soldiers entered the village several times in attempts to make arrests. Two were injured by flying tear gas canisters, just a week after Emad Rezqa suffered a fractured skull in Bil’in from a gas canister fired directly at his head. The demonstration was one of many global actions this week calling for the Irish multinational firm CRH to divest from its links to Nesher Cement. Nesher is the only Israeli cement company, meaning that it supplies cement for construction of the wall, settlements and other infrastructures of apartheid, all illegal under international law.
Ni’lin
Approximately 50 demonstrators gathered for midday prayers before walking to the Western end of the illegal wall which bounds the town of Ni’lin on two sides. After facing Israeli military jeeps on the opposite side of the wall, the demonstration returned to the village in response to the invasion of a military jeep. The jeep retreated, at which point demonstrators returned to the wall and were met with a barrage of tear gas. Since May 2008, five demonstrators have been killed in Ni’lin, and American ISM activist Tristan Anderson was critically injured 13 months ago.
Qarrawat Bani Hassan
Nearly surrounded by settlements and facing continual land confiscation, villagers from Qarrawat Bani Hassan gathered with visiting Palestinians and internationals for a weekly work party. Springs near the village, dating to Roman times, have repeatedly been vandalized by Israelis from the nearby illegal settlements, most recently on March 8th, 2010. Although it is believed that the most recent destruction of the springs was in retaliation for the weekly gatherings, villagers have not been deterred and continue in their work to build a park near the springs.
This Friday, workers planted trees and built a trail. A past mayor of Al Bireh attended and spoke to volunteers about the role of community work in building cohesive resistance to the occupation, based on his experiences in the late 1960’s.
Al Ma’asara
A group of about 25 demonstrated in the agrarian village of Al Ma’asara, near Bethlehem, after midday prayers on Friday. Speeches were delivered in Arabic, Hebrew and English to the crowd of Palestinians, Israelis and Internationals. Soldiers obstructed the road with razor wire during the demonstration, preventing cars from passing. This included an ill woman traveling to a nearby clinic.
Al Walaja
Protesting the illegal wall which will completely surround Al Walaja and confiscate nearly all of the village’s land, approximately 60 Palestinian, Israeli and International demonstrators gathered Friday. Speeches were delivered by local and regional residents after the demonstrators marched across the bulldozered swath of land. Bulldozing recently began for the wall, which will claim nearly 5000 dunums of farmland and separate the village from nearby Jerusalem and Bethlehem.
Abu Michel cleans the front of his Beit Jala home after bulldozers destroyed his family's patio and playground. Anne Paq/Activestills.orgOver 150 people participated in the weekly anti-Wall demonstration organized by the local Popular Committee in Beit Jala on Sunday. The protest march, which set out towards the Wall’s construction site, was attacked with tear-gas and concussion grenades as soon as it reached a razor-wire barricade erected by soldiers on the road leading to village’s lands.
As demonstrators were forced to retreat, soldiers continued to shoot tear-gas projectiles directly towards them. Local youth responded to the attack by throwing stones and clashes ensued. Two protesters were hit by rubber-coated bullets and Muammar Awad, an freelance cameraman, was hit in the head by an aluminum tear-gas projectile shot directly at him. According to eye witnesses, Awad was evacuated unconscious to the Sheari Tzedek hospital in Jerusalem, with blood gushing out of the back of his head.
Beit Jala is a predominantly Christian town located 10 km south of Jerusalem, on the western side of the Hebron road, opposite Bethlehem. Once completed, he Wall will Isolate 3,200 Dunams of the town’s lands, including almost 3,000 Dunams of olive groves and the only recreational forest in the area, the Cremisan monastery and the Cremisan Cellars winery.
According to a military confiscation order handed to the villagers, the path of the Wall will stretch over 4890 meters between Beit Jala and alWallaja, affecting 35 families, whose homes may be slated for demolition.
UPDATE: Video of this action has been added below.
Demonstrators managed to disrupt the construction of the Wall in alWalaja for the second time in a week . A 15 year old demonstrator was beaten, pepper-sprayed and arrested. Demonstrators sit in front of bulldozer in Al Walaja
Palestinian, Israeli and international demonstrators managed to stop the construction of the Wall in the village of alWalaja, south of Jerusalem for the second time this week. If completed, the path of the Wall in the area will surround the village completely, isolating it from all its lands, the cities of Bethlehem and Jerusalem and essentially the rest of the world.
Demonstrators managed to block the bulldozers in the early morning, and even climb and take over one of the machines. A Border Police force at the scene arrested on of the demonstrators – 15 year old Nabil Hajajla – who was beaten and pepper-sprayed. Following Hajajla’s arrest, Border Police officers managed to drag the demonstrators away from the bulldosers and construction was resumed.
Al-Walaja is an agrarian village of about 2,000 people, located south of Jerusalem and West of Bethlehem. Following the 1967 Occupation of the West Bank and the redrawing of the Jerusalem municipal boundaries, roughly half the village was annexed by Israel and included in the Jerusalem municipal area. The village’s residents, however did not receive Israeli residency or citizenship, and are considered illegal in their own homes.
Once completed, the path of the Wall is designed to encircle the village’s built-up area entirely, separating the residents from both Bethlehem, Jerusalem, and almost all their lands – roughly 5,000 dunams. Previously, Israeli authorities have already confiscated approximately half of the village’s lands for the building of the Har Gilo and Gilo settlements, and closed off areas to the south and west of it. The town’s inhabitants have also experienced the cutting down of fruit orchards and house demolition due to the absence of building permits in Area C.
According to a military confiscation order handed to the villagers, the path of the Wall will stretch over 4890 meters between Beit Jala and alWallaja, affecting 35 families, whose homes may be slated for demolition.
Beit Jala is a predominantly Christian town located 10 km south of Jerusalem, on the western side of the Hebron road, opposite Bethlehem. Once completed, he Wall will Isolate 3,200 Dunams of the town’s lands, including almost 3,000 Dunams of olive groves and the only recreational forest in the area, the Cremisan monastery and the Cremisan Cellars winery.
Emad Rezqa after being shot with aluminum tear gas canister
An Israeli protester suffered a broken skull after soldiers shot him directly with a tear gas projectile that hit his forehead. Five demonstrators were arrested. Another protester was hit in the head with a tear gas projectile in Nabi Saleh.
Emad Rezqa was hit in the forehead by an aluminum tear gas projectile shot directly at him by Israeli soldiers during the weekly anti-Wall demonstration in Bil’in earlier today. He suffered a fractured skull and brain hemorrhage. Rezqa is currently hospitalized at the Hadassa Ein Karem hospital in Jerusalem.
The demonstration Rezqa was injured in concluded the three-day International Bil’in Conference on Popular Struggle, and was attended by hundreds of people. Five demonstrators were arrested during the protest.
The march, which commenced at the village’s mosque after the midday prayer, was attacked with tear gas some 30 seconds after reaching the gate in the Wall, despite the fact that it was entirely peaceful. The gas forced most of the participants to retreat back towards the village, but a smaller group managed to stay by the gate, chanting and shouting slogans.
A few minutes after, a group of soldiers began firing a second round of tear gas projectiles, this time directly at the demonstrators from a distance of about 30 meters. Rezqa was hit and quickly evacuated to the Ramallah hospital with blood gushing from his forehead. He was transferred to the Hadassa Ein Karem hospital after being x-rayed and diagnosed as suffering a broken skull.
Following Rezqa’s injury, soldiers invaded Bil’in through the gate in the Wall and arrested four protesters who were staging a sit-in some hundred meters away from the Wall, as well as a journalist who was next to them.
Another demonstrator was similarly injured today during a demonstration in the village of Nabi Saleh. The protester was hit in the head with a tear gas projectile shot directly at him after the Army invaded the village even before the demonstration began.
In Ni’ilin, roughly 300 people demonstrated in solidarity with the villages political prisoners. The demonstration was attended by two PLC members from the Change and Reform party – Mahmoud Ramahi and Fadhel Saleh, who joined the protest today following Ramahi’s statement in support of the popular struggle last Wednesday during the Bil’in conference.
Ramahi and Slaeh’s participation is yet another sign of the recent expansion of the popular struggle and the momentum the movement is gaining in the Palestinian street.
