Occupation Forces have launched a new strategy of control in the Budrus, undertaking night raids into the village and forcing people at gunpoint to fingerprint checks. Soldiers have stormed several houses over the last week undertaking what they call a âstatistical surveyâ, which involves forcibly documenting all of the men in the households. In an attempt to intimidate the villagers of Budrus – known for their united defiance of the Apartheid Wall – the nocturnal raids reflect the desperate measures taken by the Occupation to subdue the popular resistance of the village.
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Budrus plays a central role in the mobilization against the Wall. Villagers have repeatedly torn down parts of the Wall running through the village lands, and continually confronted the Occupation which strangles their lives. Last Thursday, and for three subsequent days, Occupation soldiers made raids in the middle of the night. Several houses in the village were stormed. People were forced at gunpoint from their beds, and all men made to have their fingerprints recorded on papers. Those who resisted were attacked by soldiers and coerced into complying with the orders.
Names and ID card numbers were recorded on separate papers along with intricate details of family members. Photos were then taken of all men in the houses. Around 25 men have been forced to undergo this humiliating procedure. Most â if not all â the families that have been attacked possess lands in what has become the âno manâs landâ by the Apartheid Wall. However, no one has been able to find explanations for this latest attack on the village, other than it being a desperate attempt to intimidate villagers.
Similar assaults have occurred in Um Sharaâit (Ramallah district), an area also located adjacent to the path of the Wall, and which has suffered isolation of the villageâs lands. Aimed at cracking the united resistance to the Wall and Occupation – present across numerous towns and villages – Palestinians have refuted the latest strategy of intimidation. Countering the strangle-hold of the Occupation over life and land, escalating defiance marks the ghettos of Palestinian communities in the West Bank.