Later that evening, 150 demonstrators marched toward the apartheid wall on al-Walaja lands, in the west Bethlehem district. They tried to reach the isolated lands where Occupation bulldozers are currently working on constructing a new section of the Apartheid Wall. The demonstration, which was organized by Stop The Wall Campaign and the âWelcome to Palestineâ initiative, saw wide-participation from Palestinian residents of al-Walaj village, near-by villages, and other national and international activists.
The march started from the village center toward the Apartheid Wall area. Occupation forces were prepared at the location of the march and inundated the demonstration with tear gas and sound bombs. They then started a hand-to-hand confrontation with demonstrators, causing several injures. The demonstrators tried to by-pass the Occupation forces to continue the march toward the bulldozers working on constructing a new section of the Apartheid Wall, but Occupation forces managed to stop them with force.
After the demonstration ended, Occupation forces set-up a checkpoint at the entrance to Bethlehem and detained a group of activists, included Mazen Al-Azah, coordinator of Stop The Wall campaign for Bethlehem district, and other local and international activists for 90 minutes before releasing them.
This activity comes as part of the organized week of events on the Memorial Day of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) decision, which determined that the Apartheid Wall is illegal, and demanded from Israeli Occupation forces to dismantle it and to compensate the affected Palestinian people by it. It also announced that the Occupation procedures in Jerusalem and settlements in all 1967 occupied areas are illegal.