Approximately 40 people participated in this week’s Friday demonstration in South Betlehem, organized by the people of Al-Ma’asara and joined by international and Israeli activists. Participants gathered at the entrance to Al-Ma’asara and attempted to march towards the site of the construction of the Annexation Barrier. As in the past several weeks, the Israeli military strung barbed wire across the road, preventing the demonstrators from moving out of the village. Young Palestinians began to move the barbed wire, with some help from supporters, including members of PSP and Anarchists Against the Wall. After a small gap was made in the barbed wire and Israeli and international activists began to move through it, soldiers attacked them, grabbing … Continue reading

If the Israeli military gets what it is asking, Nil’in along with 7 other villages in the Western Ramallah district will be completely surrounded by the Annexation Barrier and Israeli-only settlement roads. In 2003 the villagers of the district, including Budrus, Al-Midya, Deir Qaddis and Kharbata, held almost daily demonstrations against the confiscation of their land. In Budrus, the campaign was successful and the Annexation Barrier was pushed back to the Green Line in all but a few hundred meters of land. This week, construction has begun again on the land of Nil’in and the demonstrations have begun in earnest. Four demonstrations have been held in the past week and the residents, numbering in the several … Continue reading

The weekly Friday demonstration in South Betlehem included the theme “We Are All Mousa Abu Maria” in solidarity with Mousa, co-founder of PSP and now political prisoner being held in the Ketziot prison in Israel. Israeli and international activists joined Palestinians from al Ma’asara and Beit Ommar in wearing signs saying, “I am Mousa Abu Maria” in several different languages. Mousa has been a key organizer and supporter of demonstrations in the area and has been attending the demonstrations in the Um Salamuna/Al Ma’asara region since their inception in early 2007. Partcipants met at the entrance to Um Salamuna and Al-Ma’asara and marched down the road where they were soon … Continue reading

On Saturday, May 10, thousands of people marched throughout the streets of London, from the river Thames to Trafalgar Square in support of the Palestinian people and a call for the immediate end to the siege on Gaza. The participants marched past the Houses of Parliament and Downing Street, carrying signs and Palestinian flags. In the midst of the march, a contingent of participants carried a banner in support of PSP co-founder Mousa Abu Maria and called for the end of administrative detention, a policy used by the Israeli military to imprison Palestinians without charge or trial.

Friday, May 2, nearly 300 Palestinian, international and Israeli activists gathered in the village of Al-Ma’asara, South of Betlehem, to demonstrate against the construction of the Annexation Barrier in the region. The demonstration today was in honor of International Workers Day (May Day) and Dr. Moustafa Bargouthi was in attendance and spoke at length about the damage the construction of the Barrier and settlement expansion was having on Palestinian workers. As a case in point, if the Annexation Barrier is completed in the South Betlehem district, it will cut off many Palestinians in the villages from Betlehem itself, the economic, educational, and social center of the district. Farmers in regions where the Annexation Barrier has been completed … Continue reading