The last week in the West Bank was marked by further steps to complete the ghettoization of the Palestinian people. Life for the people and the farmers in the North is more and more confined to the limits of the ghetto walls with cultivation of their lands almost completely jeopardized. In Bethlehem, efforts to destroy the district are accelerated. House demolitions are leaving people homeless and making space for Zionist colonization. The announcement by the Occupation forces that the apartheid road system will be institutionalized further traps Palestinians in the ghettos of their villages and cities. In the face of this reality, Palestinian resistance has continued unabated and is bound to rise.
Apartheid Roads
The Occupation announced a plan to officially bar Palestinians from the settler road networks that cuts through the West Bank,
partly built on land expropriated from Palestinians and partly by taking over ancient Palestinian roads and declaring them
available for Jewish-only use. This will finalize the ghetto system created by the Wall, the fortified checkpoints and the
settlements, imposing a form of apartheid that goes far beyond anything seen before.
Land Confiscation and Isolation
On the 20th of February, the Occupation forces started to build a military base on 80 dunums of olive groves in west
Tura (Jenin district). Confiscation orders were issued for 2 dunums and 480 square meters of village lands
isolated by the Wall. (For more see:
https://stopthewall.org/latestnews/1098.shtml)
Also, the Occupation has confiscated 41 dunums and 300 square meters of Beit Hanina lands (Jerusalem) for the construction of the Apartheid Wall. This section of the Wall will imprison 4 buildings with 300 inhabitants between a settlers-only road and the Wall and isolated them in the ghetto that the Occupation wants to exclude from Jerusalem.
On the 18th of February, in west Bethlehem, the Occupation shifted the entrance gate for Betar settlement and the checkpoint 400 meter closer to Husan village and road 60. This move effectively isolates 1800 dunums of land from the people of Husan.
In Tulkarem district, the isolation of lands behind the Wall is making the farming of the area more difficult every day. Even those land owners that had been given permits to reach their lands are now forced to wait for hours at the gates, where they suffer humiliation and are often sent back.
In Jenin, the Occupation has distributed what they call âlong-term permitsâ only to cancel them again for this season. At the moment only 20 out of 700 farmers that demanded access to their lands are allowed to pass the gates.
Land Destruction
On 18th of February, in Wadi Fuqeen village, west Bethlehem, the Occupation bulldozers started uprooting trees to the
south of the village. In order to connect Betar and Gevaâot settlements, 50 olive, apple and citrus trees have been ripped up.
A few kilometers away, in al Khadr, west Bethlehem, the Occupation has accelerated work on the Wall and the tunnel that should control all movement in and out of the Palestinian villages isolated behind the Wall in the area. The Wall will encircle the village from three sides.
On the 21st of February, in Bethlehem, the Occupation bulldozers continued the destruction in the area near Rachelâs Tomb (Billal mosque northern Bethlehem) and the western part of Aida refugee camp. With the pretext of expanding Rachelâs Tomb, the Zionist forces have now destroyed around 6 dunums of land belonging to the Sansure and Musalam families.
House Demolitions
On the 22nd of February, the Occupation bulldozers destroyed a childrenâs playground in Azzun, east Qalqilya district.
Under the pretext of lacking “permission” – a tactic frequently used to destroy Palestinian homes and buildings –
Occupation Forces arrived in east Qalqiliya at 9 am to destroy the playground that should have been inaugurated a
few days later. The playground was built on 7.5 dunums of land.
(For more see:
https://stopthewall.org/latestnews/1099.shtml)
The same day, the Occupation sent their bulldozers to demolish the house of Hamuda Mheisen in Funduq village, east
Qalqiliya. The âpermitâ tactic was used once again in order to completely destroy the structure of the house on 300
square meters of land. After having declared the Western part of Funduq a closed military area, the bulldozers began
the demolition. Occupation Forces then continued their trail of violence in the neighboring village of Jinsafut and
demolished a building belonging to Tawfeeq Galeb Basher.
(For more see:
https://stopthewall.org/latestnews/1099.shtml)
A huge campaign against Palestinian villages throughout east Qalqiliya has been planned by Occupation Forces, who have
distributed approximately 62 demolition orders in Hajja, Funduq and Jinsafut villages. This will allow the further
expansion of the settlement blocs of Qedumim and Qarne Shomron, while continuing the ghettoization of Palestinians.
(For more see:
https://stopthewall.org/latestnews/1099.shtml)
On the 24th, the occupation distributed 8 demolition orders for homes in Brukin village, west Salfit. The pretext was
missing building permits, yet the fact that the houses are located along the path of the Wall to be constructed in the
area makes the ploy all the more evident.
Popular Resistance
On the 22nd of February, the popular committee of the Grassroots Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign –
in coordination with Palestinian NGOs – mobilized a protest at Bardala terminal in the north of the Jordan Valley.
Channeling their anger at the Zionist campaign to annex and ethnically cleanse the Valley, Palestinians revealed their
refusal to end their resistance to the Occupation. As retaliation, and to further intimidate Palestinian communities,
the following day the Occupation sent their bulldozers to attack Bardala. At 5:30 am, the Occupation Forces started to
demolish 16 shelters that farmers use to sell their crops along road 90, which leads from Mehole settlement to the terminal.
The water pipe irrigating the lands near Bardala was destroyed the same day.
(For more information see:
https://stopthewall.org/latestnews/1101.shtml)
This Friday, in Aboud, around 250 demonstrators joined the weekly demonstration and marched to their land southwest of the village, where the Occupation is uprooting the trees that are the source of livelihood for Aboud. The Occupation forces, once again, tried to prevent people from reaching their land, but the villagers from Aboud were determined to move to their fields. As clashes broke out, the military shot rubber bullets, live ammunition, and tear gas at the crowd. Dawood al Ahj, in his early 20s, was injured by rubber bullets.
The same day, in Beit Sira, some 300 people gathered to defend their land, which is being uprooted by the Occupation bulldozers to make room for the Apartheid Wall. As the protestors reached the area, the Occupation forces blocked their path and clamped down violently on the crowd. Tear gas, rubber bullets, and live ammunition were pumped into the demonstration without any regard for the elderly or children. Many protestors suffered breathing problems and one young man was injured when he was shot in the chest with a rubber bullet.
The Friday demonstration in Bilâin again drew crowds to protest against the destruction of their lands. The villagers reached their lands, where they held speeches vowing that their resistance would not stop. Meanwhile, the youth burned tires to block the Occupation army.