The Apartheid Wall, âcompletedâ in the north by the village Jayyus and under construction in Noman by Bethlehem, continues to imprison, isolate and torment residents. In Jayyus, children isolated west of the Wall have been held up and interrogated by the Occupation Forces while in Noman residents are being told of their coming expulsion from their land. Furthermore, in the district of Salfit, where the Wallâs path is being razed, residents are suffering the closure of roads while settlers disgustingly fight amongst themselves over which land they will further occupy.
Jayyus, Qalqiliya District
On Sunday the 18th of January, the Occupation soldiers did not allow Ali Abu Sharebâs four children and their mother who waits for them in the village until school is over, from going to their isolated home behind the Apartheid Wall. They were demanding the children to tell them which individuals have been throwing stones at the soldiers. The Occupation Forces continued holding the children until 7 p.m. and did not let them pass until representatives from humanitarian organizations interfered. The Occupation Forces also did not allow the farmers in Qalqiliya and an engineer from Jayyus from supervising the implementation of irrigation projects to reach lands isolated behind the Wall. They were all forced to return back by threatening them with their weapons.
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Yasuf and Kafr Hares, Salfit District
The Occupation Forces closed part of Road 60 from the Zatara military checkpoint to the Israel settlement Ariel. The prohibited all Palestinians from the villages of Yasuf and Kufr Hares to pass of move on the road. This was because the Occupation military was removing some four to five settler caravans that the settler placed between Tafuah and Ariel. The Occupation Forces are removing them because the settlers of Ariel consider the land to be âtheirsâ and that the settlers of Tufuah should not erect them on their landâfights erupted between the two settler groups and the military closed the checkpoint and the roadâpunishing Palestinians under the propaganda of removing âsettler outpostsâ. The Apartheid Wallâs path is not yet razed throughout Salfit, however residents are continually suffering from closures over their villages and the roads for the racist benefit of the Israeli settlers.
Noman, Bethlehem District
The Occupation Forces are dually building the Apartheid Wall and a new settler by-pass road by the village Noman in north Bethlehem. The by-pass road, which has confiscated 104 dunums* from Nomanâs lands, cuts between Noman and Al Khasâsevering economic and social ties. Work on the Wall has continued intensely by the village; the Wall will further divide Noman and Al Khas. The Wall, as indicated on the map below, will extend from Kaber Hilwe in Beit Sahur and extend to Al Khas and then towards Wadi al Hummus.
Noman, whose residents all hold âWest Bankâ Identification cards under the Israeli permit system, will all be left on the âJerusalem sideâ of the Wall. Although close to Jerusalem the Occupation Forces prevent them from entering the city; residents have been forced to withdraw their kids from school in Jerusalem and send them to Al Khas which they are now isolated from. It is feared and expected that, as Occupation soldiers have been saying, that the people of Noman will be forced to leave their homes and move to Al Khas on the other side of the Wall. Noman rests at the edge of the expanding settlement Har Homa, what is originally called Jabel Abu Ghniem.
Measures indicating the expulsion of residents in Noman have been increasing. Last month, the Occupation Forces closed the village for an entire week, not letting people enter and exit and last week they went into the home of an activist in the village and confiscated all of the maps and documents he had for the village.
*1 dunum = 1/4 acre = 1,000 sq meters
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