***image2***On Friday 16th of April, Abboud villagers received fresh confiscation orders for 6000 dunums of their land by Occupation Forces. It will continue the project of the Apartheid Wall in the western areas of Ramallah, reaching Bilâin and Saffa to the south.
More than half of the confiscated dunums are fertile lands planted with olive trees, almonds and fruits. However the most critical feature of these lands is the historical, Christian ruins of âHoly Barbaraâ. This church was built over 1500 years ago, and despite being damaged by the Occupation Forces in 2002, was under renovation and reconstruction.
Abboudâs lands total 15,000 dunums. The settlements and the already constructed northern section of the Apartheid Wall isolated around 8000 dunums of these lands. The Beit Arye colony was built in 1981, while the settlement of Ofarim was built on lands also made up from the Palestinian village of Lubban. Abboud villagers have begun mobilizing resistance against the new wave of colonization against their lands and livelihoods.
As news of the confiscation orders surfaced, Occupation Forces critically wounded five Palestinians, and made two arrests, during an anti-Apartheid protest in Bilâin. Demonstrations against the Apartheid Wall have taken place on an almost daily basis in the village, which has been at the centre of resistance in the area. Here the Apartheid Wall is an intrinsic part of the Zionist project to steal thousands of dunums of Palestinian land, much of which will be used for the expansion of the settlements. Moreover, upon completion the Apartheid Wall, in conjunction with the Jewish-only infrastructure such as the Apartheid road systems will create the ghettoization of the village.
Occupation Forces clashed with villagers from Bilâin firing live ammunition and tear gas. Palestinians replied by throwing stones at the Occupation Forces who entered the village in a typical display of violence and aggression against those who are resisting the theft of their lands and the imprisonment of the village.
Despite the unrelenting brutality of the occupation, Bilâin villagers have refused to give up their resistance to the construction of the Apartheid Wall. Mass protests in the village are ongoing.
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