Expulsion of Palestinians has begun in Tamoon, north of Tobas in the Jordan Valley as the Occupation begins the eastern phase of the Apartheid Wall. Designed to ensure the expansion of the settlements, the Wall is ultimately geared towards the annexation of the entire Valley.
Over the last week, Occupation Forces distributed military orders for 10 families living on the eastern side of Tamoon and Atoof areas to demolish their animal shelters and a greenhouse. Added to this number are 12 families already expelled from their lands and who have been forced to buy food to feed for cattle which can no longer graze and herded on Palestinian lands now stolen by the Occupation. Confiscations here have begun the process of emptying the land and enabling settlement expansion in light of the arrival of colonists redeployed from Gaza into the Jordan Valley.
In Tamoon a total of 60% of the land has been confiscated to serve the expansion of the settlements and military camps. Meanwhile, the âdevelopmentâ plans of the Occupation have begun to take shape throughout the Valley with millions of dollars earmarked for projects to cleanse the areas of Palestinians. Checkpoints are now closed to Palestinians registered as residing outside of the Valley as the first stages on this process get underway.
Meanwhile, one of these checkpoints – Tayassir in Tobas municipality – was the scene of a sit-in protest by Palestinians in opposition to the Wall and the daily harassment and humiliation of the Occupation. On Thursday the 24th of November, demonstrators gathered in the centre of Tubas and marched 5km to the checkpoint immediately east of the city.
This checkpoint has separated Palestinians in Tubas and Tayassir from their agricultural lands in the Jordan Valley since 2000. The checkpoint was shutdown as OccupationForces encircled the protestors who led a sit-in raising slogans against the Apartheid Wall, ongoing land confiscation and daily harassment.
The Occupation intends to annex the Valley, 28.5% of West Bank, for the benefit of the existing settlements and in order to attract new colonists and Zionist projects to the area. The cleansing of Palestinians from their lands, necessary for such projects, is now underway.
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