A rally organized by the popular committee against the Apartheid Wall in Izbet at Tabib, with the support of the other committees in the district, was able to project the fate of 14 villages threatened by the Apartheid Wall on the national agenda. Some 500 people gathered to support of the villageâs resistance. Dozens of representatives from the political forces and the Palestinian Authority have pledged to start campaigning for these villages.
***image2***People from many different villages in the Qalqiliya district were joined by students from Birzeit University and Qalqiliya and Bethlehem Al Quds Open University, and dozens of political representatives. They filled Izbet at Tabibâs main square.
At 11 am speeches opened the rally. One after the other, the local leaders from Qalqiliya district, representatives of all political parties, members of the legislative council and PA ministers spoke to acknowledge the hardship caused by the occupation to the village and the admirable steadfastness of its people. They pledged material and political support not only for Izbet at Tabib but also for the 13 other villages along the Wallâs path that are in the same situation as Izbet at Tabib.
These villages are choked by the Apartheid Wall and settlements and their infrastructure; and they are suffering from serious restrictions of movement. But, most importantly, Occupation authorities have recently declared these villages and communities as non- residential areas, transforming them into un-non recognized villages and denying the villages the right to exist. The Occupation authorities have posed demolition orders on almost all the buildings in the village.
The people from the district stated their solidarity and confirmed that they would stand side by side with the threatened villages â âWe will not allow another Nakba!â
The representative of the Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign reminded the authorities that money is not all: âWe have an army of politicians and diplomats inside the country and around the world that needs to denounce these Israeli crimes and help us resist on our land.â
Meanwhile, the Occupation forces had gathered at the entrance of Izbet at Tabib to besiege the village. When the speeches finished, the youth from local villages confronted the Occupation forces, raining stones on them to break the military blockade of the villageâs entrances. After two hours of clashes, the Occupation forces retreated and the crowd dispersed with the firm conviction that this was only the start for a campaign that was to save the land, homes and livelihoods of Palestine from Zionist colonization.
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