Throughout May, Stop the Wall and the Land Defense Coalition have been working together to build resistance, support steadfastness and create information and awareness about Israel's ongoing policies of ethnic cleansing and colonization in the West Bank. May has been a month of heavy onslaught on the Palestinian people in the West Bank, with Israel advancing its expulsion plans in the South, East and the West of the West Bank. While grassroots organizing continues the enduring apathy of the international community is chilling.
Popular committee to defend Beit al Baraka formed
A delegation from the Land Defence Coalition, the Palestinian Grassroots Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign, and the Palestinian Farmers' Union (PFU) organized a public meeting in Beit Ummar to support of their efforts to protect their community from settler take over. Beit Al-Baraka, an old church compound made up of eight buildings located just north of the AlArroub refugee camp. The take over of the area would be a strategic move towards connecting the settlements in the Etzion Bloc and in the Hebron area.
A popular committee to defend Beit Baraka was formed, that will include members from the municipality, local organizations and activists from the area.
Defending Susya from ethnic cleansing
The Land Defence Coalition, the Palestinian Grassroots Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign, and the Palestinian Farmers' Union (PFU) have been visiting and working together with the people from Susiya to protect the area from ethnic cleansing. Susiya, a Palestinian village of 340 residents in the Hebron Hills of the West Bank, is as a whole threatened with demolition orders. The people of Susiya built homes on their own agricultural land in 1986 after Israel declared the village's original nearby location an archeological site, and evicted them from place they then inhabited. Nearby communities in Yatta are similarly threatened. The Land Defense Coalition and Stop the Wall have been working with the local organizations and activists to support their steadfastness and to pressure Palestinian officials to take action in defense of the people.
On May 16, activists from Palestinian Grassroots Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign participated in a solidarity march organized by the popular committee in Susiya. The protest march was heavily attacked and dispersed by Israeli military forces stationed in the area.
Defending the Jordan Valley from ethnic cleansing
The Land Defence Coalition, the Palestinian Grassroots Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign, and Palestinian Farmers' Union (PFU) on April 28 organized a public meeting in the Jordan Valley area with the farmers in Jiftlik area, Al-Hodeidah and al-Makhoul. The meeting had been called for after the occupation authorities demolished agricultural facilities for the inhabitants of Jiftlik and Makhoul under the pretex that they were lackking appropriate permits.
Defending the ‘right to report’ at checkpoint 300
The Palestinian Grassroots Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign joined with the Palestine Journalists Syndicate in the organizing of a march to mark World Press Freedom Day on May. Activists and journalists gathered in Bethlehem and jointly marched to ‘checkpoint 300’, the big terminal isolating Bethlehem from Jerusalem. The march was organized to protest the occupation practices against journalists, including the restrictions of the freedom of speech of journalists and the repeated attacks on them. Israeli military forces, once again, suppressed the protest violently, firing rubber-coated bullets and tear gas canisters. At least three journalsits were injured, including where the Jewish Suppression the activity by firing rubber bullets and tear gas canisters, where this led injury 3 journalists, including the head of the Union of Palestinian Journalists Abdel al-Nasser al-Najjar.
Remembering the start of the Nakba – Resisting the ongoing Nakba
The Land Defense Coalition and the Stop the Wall Campaign have been co-organizing and participating in a series of activities across the West Bank, joining forces with other local or national organizations. For more on this click here.
