***image2***On Friday, 9th of June, al-Khader citizens gathered in the village center to march in a powerful demonstration to the South-west of their village. There, the Apartheid Wall threatens peopleâs lives and livelihoods as homes are slated for demolition and street sellers are expelled from the area.
After the Friday prayer, an estimated 150 people gathered in front of the mosque and then marched towards the Wall chanting slogans against the Apartheid Wall and Zionist policies of dispossession and expulsion. Villagers vowed that they would never give up their land. In front of the Wall, the Occupation stationed an impressive contingent of soldiers to impede the villagers to reach their nearby land. The protestors concluded their demonstration with a resolution to make the marches a weekly-recurring sign of resistance.
The protests were triggered by the threats to village life in the South-western part. Thirty street sellers have been given âexpulsion ordersâ from their stalls along the street leading from Bethlehem to Hebron. The petty merchants used to sell their goods in Jerusalem before the city was isolated, but were then forced to move to this location. Again, Zionist expansion forces the merchants to look for another place to sell their goods. On Tuesday, demolition orders were distributed to three homes: two belonging to the sons of Ahmad Mahmoud Salah and another to Jamal Mahmoud Yacoub Salah. Approximately 25 people will become homeless as a result of these demolitions.
Al-Khader will soon be surrounded on three sides â north, west and south â by the Wall and the Jewish-only road running along it. Most of its land will further be isolated behind the Wall. The lives of Bethlehem District citizens are squeezed behind the Apartheid Wall to ensure expansion of the ethnically cleansed âGreater Jerusalemâ towards South and East.
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