Yesterday, Palestinian, international and Israeli activists, including people from PSP and Anarchists Against the Wall, cut a section out of the Annexation Fence near the village of Surif in the Hebron District.

When completed in this area, the Annexation Fence will cut the nearby Palestinian village Al-Jab’a off from Surif and the rest of the West Bank, leaving it in a ‘no man’s land’ between the Annexation Fence and the ‘Green Line’, and surrounded by settlements.

Activists, wearing reflective vests so that the IOF would have no excuse to believe we were threatening, approached the fence and sought to do as much … Continue reading

PSP was honored to be invited to the commemoration of the newly rebuilt home of the Salem family in Al-Walaja. Activists from Holy Land Trust, Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI), Israeli Committee Against Home Demolitions and others joined the Salem family to rebuild their home for the 3rd time in two years.
Al-Walaja is a village of less than 1,000 refugees near Betlehem. The residents were first displaced in 1948 when half of their village was taken over by Israel. Over the years they have been in constant danger of further displacement, especially in 1967 when another part of their village was annexed as part of ‘East Jerusalem’ … Continue reading

On Friday July 6 about one hundred protesters gathered at Um Salamuna to participate in the ongoing resistance against the Wall, including dozens of internationals and Israelis. After a prayer on amidst the trees, demonstrators marched to the path of the Annexation barrier, lead by singing and cheering. Then about twenty soldiers met the demonstrators at construction site and tried to block the march forward. The soldiers surrounded the demonstrators who continued to loudly chant and tried to push through the line of the Israeli Occupation Forces. The demonstrators then sat down together and a member of the local Popular Committee whose land is being confiscated by Israel spoke … Continue reading

Israeli Occupation Forces forces brought eight jeeps and one bulldozer through the village of Al-Walajah, using extreme violence to destroy wells and farmland. They destroyed a well owned by Mohammad Saleh Abutiin, which provides the local community with essential water supplies for home use and for agriculture. The invasion has resulted in 10,000 litres of water being lost. In total the IOF destroyed two dunam of land which includes olive trees which are over 40 years old. Al-Walajah is a small village in the Betlehem district which will be completely surrounded by the Annexation Barrier if completed on its current path.

Though the bulldozing of land belonging to the residents of Um Salamuna was stopped for several weeks due to a court order, (recent demonstrations have been on land owned by the residents of Wadi an-Nis) the court has lifted the injunction and the uprooting of olive trees and grapevines has begun again on the land of Um Salamuna. At a demonstration on Friday, people from Um Salamuna and the surrounding villages went to the land of Mahmoud Takatka, the head of the Um Salamuna City Council, where they prayed and then spoke about the new court decision and its impact on the people of Um Salamuna.
They also spoke about Alan … Continue reading

Yesterday, over a hundred Palestinians from the villages of Beit Fag’ar, Um Salamuna, Wadi An-Nis, Al- Masara, Al-Khadr, and Beit Ommar, accompanied by Israeli and international activists, united on land near the Efrat settlement and attempted to block Route 60, the main north-south highway from Hebron up through Jerusalem to the northern West Bank. Though the high-spirited demonstrators were prevented by an enormous show of force by the Israeli Occupation Forces from blocking the highway, their message was seen, and heard, loud and clear. Demonstrators held up banners and signs in Hebrew, Arabic and English protesting the theft of their land by the Israeli government for the construction of the Annexation … Continue reading

On April 15 the village of Nahallin in the Betlehem district held a festival honoring prisoners day. They also commemorated the massacres by the Israeli Occupation Forces in their vllage in 1954 and 1989 when 12 people were killed. Nahallin is a village of 7000 people who will be particularly devastated by the construction of the Annexation Wall. It is surrounded by the settlements of Betar Illit, Etzion, Daniel, and Jaba, all within the Gush Etzion settlement bloc. When the Wall is completed, Nahallin, along with 4 other villages, will be cut off from the West Bank and in limbo, being west of the Wall, surrounded by the settlement … Continue reading

Today, Palestinian, international and Israeli activists destroyed part of the foundation of the Annexation Barrier in Um Salamuna. Demonstrators marched to the site wearing chains around their wrists, symbolizing the imprisonment of the Palestinian people with the construction of the Annexation Wall. They filled cement support structures for the barrier with rocks and then moved on to a low cement wall that was supposed to be part of the foundation of the patrol road being built as part of the Annexation Barrier structure. Activists tore off the metal and wood reinforcements around a cement foundation built earlier this week and set fire to … Continue reading

Today, on Good Friday, demonstrators in Um Salamuna brought a large wooden cross and blocked an Israeli Army bulldozer there to destroy olive groves for the construction of the Annexation Wall. Palestinian, Israeli, and international activists marched to the working bulldozers carrying a cross and sat in front of a bulldozer, non-violently preventing it from working. The cross was both for the observence of Good Friday, the day Christians commemorate the crucifiction of Christ, and as a symbol for the “crucifiction” of the Palestinian people by the Israeli government and their policies of land confiscation and destruction.

Though the demonstrators were completely non-violent and non-confrontational … Continue reading

Today, over 300 Palestinians from the South Betlehem villages including Um Salamuna held their friday prayer on the land being confiscated for the Annexation Barrier and then marched down the main road leading to Efrat, blocking settler traffic, in commemoration of Land Day. There was a minor confrontation with three Israeli soldiers as the march enveloped an army jeep, but there were no arrests or injuries. Peaceful demonstrations were held throughout Palestine and in Palestinian villages inside the Green Line, including Budrus, Tulkarem, Bil’in, Sakhnin and Um Salamuna.

Land Day began in 1976 in the Palestinian-Israeli village of Sakhnin to protest the expropriation of Palestinian lands by Israelis in 1948 and 1967. … Continue reading