On Friday 17th of February, popular committees against the Apartheid Wall in Ramallah district held demonstrations reaffirming their determination to protect Palestinian lands. Hundreds of people gathered in Aboud, Bilâin and Beit Seera to stand against the bulldozers which uproot their land for the Wall.
Different forms of resistance to the Wall and the Zionist project marked the demonstrations. The Occupation used the same wanton methods of repression it deploys against any popular mobilization, attacking protesters with live ammunition, tear gas and sound bombs.
In Aboud, military jeeps attacked the village while 300 hundred demonstrators were preparing to begin the weekly protest. The youth of Aboud pelted the jeeps with stones defending their village street by street until the Occupation Forces retreated. Demonstrators then congregated and marched to the construction area for the Wall. They united against their ghettoization, chanting slogans against the Wall and Zionism. When they reached the area where the village trees are being uprooted, Palestinians began to destroy the foundations the bulldozers had prepared for the Wall.
Rocks were launched at the caravan that hosts the private guards hired to oversee the destruction of the village lands. The stones of the resistance also broke the windows of the bulldozers that ruin the livelihoods – and smash the history – of the Palestinian people. To secure the ongoing colonization and land theft, the Occupation military jeeps attacked the protestors with live ammunition, rubber bullets and tear gas.
In Bilân village, hundreds of protestors formed a powerful and vocal demonstration asserting their struggle against the Occupation. Palestinians were attacked with brutal and savage force as Occupation Soldiers invaded the village. Violent clashes broke out as tear gas and rubber pullets were unleashed throughout the village. Many people encountered breathing difficulties from tear gas fired directly into their homes.
In Beit Seera, West Ramallah, hundreds of people marched towards their lands, to protect the village from destruction by the Occupation Forces. The bulldozers stopped devastating the village lands and livelihoods last year, only to restart the uprooting of trees two days ago. The demonstrators chanted slogans against the Wall, demanded it to be torn down and asked for the immediate application of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) decision. A large number of Occupation Soldiers and jeeps arrived in the village, ready to repress the Palestinian mobilization. The people of Beit Seeraâs cry for justice ended with sticks, tear gas and sound bombs.
It was the second demonstration this week in Beit Seera after the razing of the land began in the south-western part of the village. It reflected the resolve of the Palestinian people throughout the Ramallah district to reject a life of imprisonment behind the Apartheid Wall. Asserting the right of resistance to the military Occupation, Palestinians vowed they would not be defeated. The defence of the land continues.
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