9 Activists Arrested, Others Injured during Israeli Forces' Suppression of al-Walaja Demonstration
- Details
- Published on Wednesday, 11 January 2012 13:49
PNN
Bethlehem – Najib Farraj
The Israeli forces arrested 9 foreigner activists including 4 Israeli peace activists, in the process of suppressing of a demonstration in al-Walaja village to the north west of Bethlehem.
Tens of Palestinian activists and foreigners had organized an unexpected demonstration that started in the early hours of the morning. It went from the village towards the apartheid wall, where Israeli bulldozers have been working for several months to build the wall and isolate thousands of acres from the village; to take over and later build huge settlement projects on.
The activists sat in front of these bulldozers to stop them from working, which went on for over 2 hours. Then reinforcement came, from policemen to soldiers to border guards, all armed with guns and sticks. They attacked the protestors and beat them up with the sticks and the bottom sides of their guns, which led to injuring 3 protestors at least, who had to be treated on field. The situation then escalated to confrontations in which guys threw stones at the soldiers, who retaliated by firing rubber bullets and throwing bombs of tear gas; which resulted in fainting and nausea episodes among the protestors.
To that effect, activists who participated in the demonstration confirmed that the Israeli forces are targeting al-Walaja village for its strategic location. They also said that these forces have been planning for over 40 years to include the village without its residents in Jerusalem's municipality limits. They referred to the plowing operations that take place saying that they fall under that part of the plan.
It should be pointed out that several months ago; the bulldozers of the Israelis uprooted more than 800 fertile and forest trees which had been planted 60 years ago. Also, some of the plowing operations are taking place around al-Badawi Olive Tree which had been planted over 3500 years ago and is therefore part of the heritage and the history of the village.
Mahmoud Zawahda, an activist from Bethlehem and who participated in the demonstration, said that the plowing operations have included cutting and uprooting fertile and forest trees, assaults on historical places and destroying agricultural roads. He also said that this aims to end the Palestinian existence, and that these are crimes committed by the occupation in al-Walaja village, north west of Bethlehem.
He said: "what the occupation forces are doing in al-Walaja are war crimes and a clear violation against the international law. It opposes the human rights which have been agreed upon in international agreements. It is an ethnic cleansing, and a theft of the elements and the property of the Palestinian people to be given to settlers. It ignores the fact that it exists on Palestinian lands as an obnoxious and illegal occupying force, and that it has no right to acquire or dispose of any of the property of the rightful owners. In addition, it does not even have the right to change any monument or area that the original residents own."
He also explained further: "All these facts have not stopped the Israeli bulldozers and their obnoxious tools from plowing large areas of lands owned by Palestinian citizens and farmers in al-Walaja village. The plowing operations included uprooting dozens of Olive trees and forest trees which add to the beauty of the place there. The aggression of the occupation does not end there, but also extends to include the agricultural road that was built by official private and foreigner associations."
