***image2***Farmers and villagers in Beit Surik have organized a series of demonstrations to protest against the construction of the Apartheid Wall in the village and the confiscation of their lands. The Occupation this week restarted the destruction and isolation of 2,500 dunums of the villageâs land. More than 1,000 trees have been uprooted in the past week. In the latest demonstration, eight villagers were injured by Occupation Forces.
Construction of the Wall on the western side of the village began in early March but was halted by the intense resistance of the villagers. The Occupation was forced to postpone work for two months. Villagers have now pledged that their resistance will continue.
Beit Surikâs original lands totalled some 13,000 dunums. 5,000 of these were confiscated after 1948, with a further 1,500 dunums being confiscated for the construction of the nearby Haradar settlement in the 1980s. Left with just 6,500 dunums â half of their original lands â the villagers now find that the Wall to the west of the village will confiscate another 2,500 dunums of the most fertile remaining land.
The Village Council is expecting to receive further confiscation orders for the southeastern side of the village in the near future, close to the 1948 Palestinian village of Abu Ghosh and the settlement of Kolonia.
Part of the 2,500 dunums isolated by the Wall will be used for the further expansion of the Haradar settlement. The rest will be used for the ongoing development of the Occupationâs network of bypass roads, as well as the construction of a train line that will connect Jerusalem with Tel Aviv and will service numerous settlements in the West Bank.
The area isolated by the Wall is well known for its olives and peaches. The Occupation has this week uprooted some 400 olive trees and 600 peach trees.
The confiscation of Beit Surikâs lands and the uprooting of the villageâs livelihood is part of the Occupationâs wider project of the expulsion of the Palestinian people from their land.
The Local Popular Committee to Resist the Apartheid Wall has announced that the largest demonstration yet held in Beit Surik will take place on Sunday June 5th. The demonstration will be attended by Palestinians from the surrounding villages in northwest Jerusalem district, in order to express their solidarity with the people of Beit Surik and their determination to resist the Apartheid Wall.
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