Construction of new Section of Apartheid Wall in Beit Jala interrupted

In the early morning on March 2, 2010, Israeli bulldozers started uprooting ancient olive trees in the garden of a Palestinian family in the town of Beit Jala, North-West of Bethlehem, in order to make room for the construction of a new section of the Apartheid Wall, which would seize another 280,9 dunums from 35 Palestinian families. On Wednesday, the Ghnam family, which had already lost a significant portion of its lands when Israel build illegal “by-pass road” 60 that Israel build to connect the equally illegal settlements, found the little playground for the children in the garden destroyed and three olive trees directly in front of their house chopped off. A red cross was painted two meters away from the front door to signal where the Wall is designed to pass. The remaining olive trees have been marked with yellow-tags, to be uprooted another day.

More markings on remaining trees and on the ground announce that soon, the family might lose the rest of its remaining land including the sight of its destroyed playground, and live immediately facing the massive grey concrete Wall.

A few houses up the hill, the Hamare family watched as bulldozers uprooted dozens of olive trees and destroyed the sewage system, resulting in a sewage break and a health hazard.

Attempt to legalize Land Theft thwarted

Between March 2 and March 3, the bulldozers uprooted an overall of 70 olive trees, rapidly creating facts on the ground before lawyers could challenge the most recent of a series of confusing orders designed to “legalize” the ongoing land theft under Israeli law: Israeli authorities based this newest act of land theft on a confiscation order from December 2006, which would have turned the lands in question into “state land”. However, the said confiscation order had expired in December 2008, and a new order from February 2010 attempted to retroactively validate it. Challenging the legality of the current confiscation in front of the Israeli Civil Administration and then in front of the Supreme Court, the legal representative of the Beit Jala municipality, obtained a stop-work order on March4, granting the municipality seven days to appeal.

Activist Intervention

On March 3, the Bethlehem Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements mobilized a group of Palestinian, international and Israeli activists to attempt to physically stop the bulldozers from continuing their work. Dozens of soldiers, security personal and border police officers spend two hours pushing and dragging the activists up the hill and away from the operating bulldozers, and finally produced an order to arrest anyone remaining on the family’s land after 9a.m.

On March 4, a group of activists was again mobilized to arrive in the early morning hours to protect the remaining olive trees. Some activists chained themselves to ancient trees marked for removal, while others formed clusters for protection. As soldiers and police officers gathered on the scene, activists chanted slogans against the Wall and the occupation and replanted uprooted trees.

After a few hours, the activists received confirmation that a work-stop-order had in fact been obtained and that no trees would be uprooted that day.

On March 6, several activists met Salam Fayad in Beit Jala, who expressed support for the popular struggle against further land theft, and planted more uprooted trees on the razed land.

On March 7, a group of 200 protestors gathered at the Orthodox Club in Beit Jala and marched through the threatened lands towards “by-pass road” 60, chanting slogans against the Wall and the occupation, waving the Palestinian flag and holding banners saying “This is not security. It’s Land Theft”. The activists were prevented from planting olive tree seedlings as clashes erupted between protestors and soldiers, who fired tear gas and stun grenades at the crowd. Several activists and residents suffered tear gas inhalation and a member of the Popular Committee was temporarily detained. Later, soldiers fired rubber-coated steel bullets, leaving three journalists and a young Palestinian hurt. Nonetheless, the activists sat down in defiance and chanted songs against the Occupation.

As the municipality builds its legal defense, activists are organizing and preparing future interventions in case that Israel continues the land theft in Beit Jala.

Pictures:

http://www.flickr. com/photos/ activestills/ sets/72157623571 453356/

http://www.demotix. com/news/ 267265/anti- wall-protests- continue- beit-jala (4.3.10)

Video link:

http://www.youtube. com/watch? v=Uss76bDKimw (3.3.10)

Articles:

http://imemc. org/index. php?obj_id= 53&story_id=58119 (3.3.10)

http://imemc. org/index. php?obj_id= 53&story_id=58128 (4.3.10)

http://maannews. net/eng/ViewDeta ils.aspx? ID=265693 (4.3.10)

http://maannews. net/eng/ViewDeta ils.aspx? ID=266713 (7.3.10)

For more information, call Rana: +972 598907291.

For information on planned direct actions, call Mahmoud +972 599586004 or Marwan: + 972 599675415.