During the period from 28 February to 17 March 2006, the Occupationâs onslaught of the Palestinian people has escalated not only in city-wide assaults and killings, but also via an acceleration of Palestinian ghettoization. Land confiscation for new parts of the Wall which further restrict the Palestinian ghettoes, house demolitions and closing of farmer gates during the Spring season make life for Palestinians impossible. Far from weakening the Palestinian determination to continue their struggle for their land, liberation and justice, these Zionist attacks have met with increased popular resistance all over the West Bank.
Sealing the ghetto
The Occupation attempts to break the steadfastness of the Palestinian farmers who are, despite all the obstacles and harassment imposed on them by the Occupation, still farming their lands which are isolated from them by the Wall. In an attempt to complete the annexation of these lands, the Occupation is until this day refusing to issue any permits for farmers to reach their lands by crossing the seasonal âgatesâ in Jenin, Salfit, Tulkarem and Qalqiliya.
Land destruction and confiscation
Jenin
28th of February – A huge number of Occupation forces attacked Bartaa Gharbiyya, west of Jenin, and bulldozed 7 dunums of Palestinian land in the South of the village. The Wall runs just meters close to the area. Fifty olive trees were uprooted and taken to an unknown place, perpetuating the theft of trees to be sold to Zionist gardens. Occupation forces also issued orders for the people who produce coal to evacuate their fields because the Occupation doesnât permit them to produce coal.
Beit Lid and Kafr Al-Labad
4th of March – Lands in the Tulkarem district are now under attack for the construction of a new piece of the Apartheid Wall. Two days ago, Occupation bulldozers uprooted a wide space of land belonging to the people of Beit Lid and Kafr Al-Labad villages, in the southeastern parts of the Tulkarem district. These lands were stolen to build the Wall around the Enav and Avne Hefetz settlements and the Jewish-only road deep within the West Bank. The land appears to be part of the route of a new Wall section that will completely seal Tulkarem district from Salfit district. Approximately 1,000 olive trees belonging to nine different farmers have been uprooted thus far.
Salfit
Beginning of March -Bulldozers belonging to the Yaneir Brashi company began uprooting large amounts of land from Kifl Hares, and Deir Istia to establish a structure for high-pressure electricity networks. The affected area extends from South Hares to North Deir Istia, near the Emanuel settlements. According to local residents, one dunum of their land is uprooted for each electric pillar basement placed. The Occupation uprooted approximately four kilometers of land and sixty olive trees in the area. Residents believe that this electricity network is strategically located to allow direct electrical connections between the Occupation and other countries in the region in a further attempt to normalize relations between the Occupation and the Arab world. The inhabitants are worried that they will suffer from health damage in addition to enduring the devastating loss of their lands.
Bethlehem
9th of March â The grapevines of Jihad Sras were uprooted in Al-Khadr by the settlers from Al-Frata, a settlement south west of Al-Khadr. Approximately 150 plants were destroyed on a space of forty dunums.
Al-Firdas
6th of March – The Occupation forces uprooted nine dunums of land belonging to the ‘Uqban community in Al-Firdas, a village east of Bethlehem in order to expand the military camp Herdion erected on Palestinian land. In the process, they uprooted forty lemon and almond trees.
House demolitions
Jabaa
6th of March – In Jabaâ village, Southeast of Ramallah, one home and three shelters have been demolished by the Occupation forces. Bulldozers protected by Occupation forces attacked the village from the Northwest side of the village, and started the demolition after they declared it a closed military area.
Al-Nuâman
6th of March – Five people from Al-Nuâman village, Northeast of Bethlehem, have received demolition orders, notifying them that their homes will soon be taken down. These 5 homes stand on sixteen kilometers of land that belong to Essa Mohammed Hmidan and his four sons and their families.
Beit Iksa
7th of March – The Occupation forces have demolished a home in Beit Iksa village, west of Jerusalem. A huge number of forces have attacked the village and declared it a closed military area. The house is based on the east side of the village towards Ramot settlement. The destruction of the 260 square meters of land on which the home was built is part of the expansion plans for the settlement and the Judaization of Jerusalem. The owner and his brother resisted the demolition of their home and were brutally beaten by the Occupation forces.
Popular Resistance
Beit Sira
10th and 17th of March – Hundreds of people from Beit Sira, a village west of Ramallah, protested, like every Friday, to defend their land, which has been uprooted for the construction of the Apartheid Wall. The demonstrators marched after the prayer from the mosque to their lands where the bulldozers work in the western part of the village.
Aboud
10th of March – Around 250 villagers marched from the village council to their land in the south part of the village, which was uprooted for the expansion of Efraim settlement and construction of the Apartheid Wall. The Occupation forces prohibited the protestors to go to their land. Aboud residentsâ determination not to abandon their land was met with brutality in the form of rubber bullets and tear gas.
Bilâin
10th and 17th of March – The people of Bilâin continued their weekly demonstration against the Wall which has been built to destroy the livelihoods of the people in the village. Around 300 people marched from the village council to the destroyed lands. The protestors succeeded to reach the construction area of the Wall and attempted to destroy it while the Occupation forces beat them with sticks and attacked them with gas and voice bombs.
Tulkarem
4th of March – The Popular Committees against the Apartheid Wall of Tulkarem District, in cooperation with Palestinian national political parties, organized a demonstration at Jubara military checkpoint and the nearby ghetto gate situated at the entrance of the village in South Tulkarem District. The demonstration emerged as a community protest against egregious land siege and suffocation of villages throughout the region by gates and checkpoints.
(For more, please see:
https://stopthewall.org/latestnews/1106.shtml)
Budrus
14th of March – The Occupation forces have stepped up their threats and retaliations against Budrus, western Ramallah, in a vain attempt to force the villagers to accept the ghettos of the Wall and to renounce the struggle for their land. On Sunday, the Occupation forces stormed the village before daylight to hang statements on the doors of houses and shops in Budrus. The text warned people not to approach the area of the Apartheid Wall or to destroy parts of it. Dubbed a âfinal warning,â the Occupation forces announced severe collective punishment if the village would not surrender into complete submission to the Occupation.
(For more, please see:
https://stopthewall.org/latestnews/1104.shtml)