Occupation Forces distributed confiscation orders on the 19th of March for land belonging to 6 villages west of Bethlehem – Walaja, Battir, Husan, al-Qabu, Wadi Fukin and Surif. Military orders proclaimed the confiscation of over 766 dunums of Palestinian land for the route of the Wall as it cuts in from the âGreen Lineâ to annex Palestinian land.
The same military order was distributed in May of 2005, together with maps that indicated the construction of the Wall to the West. However, since then a parallel Wall has been constructed to the East, running around and through Bethlehem. With the Wall now to be constructed in the West, villagers will be squeezed into tighter ghettos and shut out from their lands.
The re-affirmation of the Occupation plan to construct the second Wall reveals the intention to make Palestinian life unbearable. Annexed lands being isolated by both Walls are now subject to further settlement expansion for the Judaized âGreater Jerusalemâ. Once the Wall is completed, villagers will enclosed in the walled-in villages and permanently losing the right to access both, Jerusalem and Bethlehem.
The Palestinian capital of Jerusalem has been a major source of social, economic and cultural life. Villagers pledged their continued resistance to the annexation of their lands and the ghettoization of their communities.
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