Israeli military bulldozers began dredging Artas Village in southern Bethlehem under heavy guard. Israeli forces are confiscating and destroying 700 dunams of the southern Bethlehem village.

The land is planted with fruit and olive trees, and grapevines. Head of the Artas Village Council, Hamdi Ayash, said Tuesday that this is a prelude to the next phase of the Wall.

“Israeli forces are working to destroy hundreds of trees and are damaging the citizens' land with the goal of seizing as much territory as possible for the Efrat Settlement about a kilometer from the current destruction. This could prove a source for resistance activities against Israel.”

The 4,000 Artas residents will be forced out as the “so-called Israeli Civil Administration's military target is our town,” said Ayash. Land owners unanimously reject the confiscation and will not fight it in an Israeli court as “they do not trust Israeli judicial bodies which are a part of these plans.”

Head of the Village Council Ayash is calling for the Palestinian Authority and related institutions to participate in popular resistance to “take immediate action to stop the theft of the village.”