Thursday morning in Ni’lin began with dozens of Israeli jeeps entering the village and declaring a curfew, in an attempt to thwart the demonstration planned for 11:30 that day. Though the curfew was not enforced by the time the demonstration began and Israeli and international supporters were able to arrive to the meeting place, the feeling of violent confrontation had already been established. Nearly 200 residents, Israelis, and internationals marched towards the bulldozers that are destroying hundreds of olive trees for the construction of the Annexation Barrier. When demonstrators were still several dozen meters away from the soldiers, the Israeli forces began firing tear gas, rubber-coated steel bullets, and sound … Continue reading

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

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

A larger than usual crowd gathered this Friday, April 4, in South Betlehem to protest the ongoing construction of the Annexation Barrier on the lands of Palestinians from Al-Ma’asara, Um Salamuna, Wadi Rahaal, and Wadi An-Nis. People from Um Salamuna and Al-Ma’asara were joined by international and Israeli activists this Friday with the intention of marching from the villages to the current construction site, near the Efrat settlement.
As the group gathered and prepared to move down the road, however, the Israeli Occupation Forces set up an ad hoc barrier, stringing barbed wire across the road to try to prevent the march from proceeding. … Continue reading

Today, international and Israeli activists joined more than 200 Palestinians from the village of Al-Khadr and surrounding villages in their weekly demonstration against the construction of a series of Apartheid structures, including the Annexation Barrier, a settler by-pass road, and by-pass tunnel. Today residents commemorated Land Day, traditionally observed in Palestine on March 30.
Participants gathered near the main thoroughfare, Route 60, and held their midday Friday prayer near the site where the Annexation Barrier is currently being built. The Wall in this area will cut off or destroy 90% of Al-Khadr’s land in Israel’s most recent policy of land confiscation. They then marched towards the highway where Israeli Occupation Forces … Continue reading

This Friday, March 21, more than 200 Palestinians marched against the construction of the Annexation Barrier in the Betlehem District in two different demonstrations in Al-Khadr and Um Salamuna. These demonstrations came two days after Israeli media reported that the Israeli Occupation Forces have been given more “legal” leeway to fire live ammunition at the legs of demonstrators near the “Separation Barrier”. The report also stated that international and Israeli demonstrators were not to be fired on. This policy has been in practice, with varying frequency, since the resistance to the construction of the Annexation Barrier began in 2003. However, news that the Border Police had been given clearance to shoot non-violent demonstrators was worrisome … Continue reading

Today, as the residents of Bil’in commemorated their 3rd year of consecutive non-violent resistance to the Apartheid Wall, two other villages in the Betlehem courageously continued their struggles against the Wall as well. Residents of the South Betlehem villages gathered on the land of Um Salamuna along with their supporters and began marching towards a barbed-wire barrier Israeli soldiers erected across their path. When demonstrators approached Israeli soldiers began beating them with clubs and the butts of their rifles. Two children, aged 7 and 9, were hospitalized, one with a broken hand from the beating of the soldiers who prevented activists from marching or even standing still. A member … Continue reading

This Friday, international and Israeli activists joined residents outside Um Salamuna and Al-Khadr in two demonstrations against the construction of the Annexation Wall on their land. Beginning in Um Salamuna, demonstrators gathered near the entrances to Al Ma’asara and Um Salamuna and began to march down the street towards the construction site, near the Efrat settlement. They were quickly met by the Israeli military, who attacked demonstrators, grabbing and pushing participants as they attempted to march towards Route 60, the main road for both Palestinian and Israeli settler traffic in the southern West Bank.

Activists then made their way to the entrance of Al-Khadr, a village on the outskirts of … Continue reading