Karmei Tsur settlers have also uprooted olive trees saplings which were planted last Saturday during the Beit Ommar’s weekly nonviolent protest, organized by the Popular Committee in the town, even though these saplings were planted outside the so-called security fence.

In a hazy room, clouded with cigarette smoke and steam from hot syrup-sweat tea, residents of Kafr ad-Dik and its neighboring villages, along with Palestinian, Israeli, and international activists, excitedly gathered together waiting for the midday prayer to finish. The twenty-seventh of January marked the fourth Friday during which the village of Kafr ad-Dik has staged a nonviolent protest against the annexation of its agricultural land by the Israeli Occupation Authority (IOA).

The village of Kafr ad-Dik, and the greater Salfit District, is located on top of the largest water table in the West Bank, thus providing it with some of the most fertile land in the region. Home to generations upon generations of farmers, Kafr ad-Dik, and the neighboring villages of Rafat, Balut, and Bruqin, have had the majority of their agricultural land stripped away from them in the last ten years by the IOA. In turn unemployment and poverty rates in the farming-based community have skyrocketed.

In a village of which 99% of the inhabitants are olive farmers, the IOA’s annexation of the majority Kafr ad-Dik’s groves has been devastating.

Approximately 4,000 dunams of vital agricultural land, shared by the four villages, has been appropriated by the IOA over the past ten years. Last month, the IOA significantly increased its total of annexed land in the area when it earmarked an additional 1,000 dunums for the alleged expansion of the nearby illegal Israeli outost, Ale Zahav. Kafr ad-Dik residents, however, are convinced this latest annexation of land will be allocated to the construction of an entirely new outpost.

Left with no land to farm, and consequently no source of income, Kafr ad-Dik’s farmers have been forced to either rent out small plots from farmers who still have access to their lands in neighboring villages, or work their own land, now owned by the illegal Israeli settlements, for a paltry wage of around $13 a day.

Popular resistance, in the form of weekly nonviolent marches and demonstrations, has become increasingly commonplace in many West Bank villages since the beginning of the IOA’s construction of the Separation Wall and its subsequent seizure of Palestinian land. Villages such as Bil’in, Ni’lin and, more recently, Nabi Saleh have been the vanguard of the West Banks popular resistance movement over the last few years, with the media giving little to no focus to villages outside the spotlight.

As illegal Israeli settlements continue their unhindered expansion with impunity, robbing Palestinians of their land and livelihood on a daily basis, similar popular resistance demonstrations are popping up in villages all over the West Bank. In order for the new popular resistance efforts to be effective, it is imperative that media sources lend their ears more equitably to the growing number of villages cooperatively combating the occupation.

Nasfar Qufesh, the coordinator for the Popular Committee in the Salfit District, is insistent upon the fact that widespread, disciplined popular nonviolent resistance, represents the strongest means by which West Bank villages can resist the occupation. He says the aim of popular resistance is to, “create awareness in western countries, particularly America, of how, and for what purposes, their hard earned tax money is used.”

The Israeli Occupation Force’s (IOF) blatant use of excessive force during the weekly nonviolent protests throughout the West Bank, via mass amounts of tear gas, rubber bullets, sound grenades, and live ammunition, is an excellent example of American tax dollars hard at work. The US furnishes Israel with over three billion dollars a year in military aid alone, most of which is made up of non-repayable grants.

Although still in its nascent stages, the popular resistance in Kafr ad-Dik is growing. Community leaders predict similar movements to fan out across West Bank villages as a main method of confronting the occupation and its confiscation of their land.

Demonstrators approached the settlement fence and were able to remove a post and some barbed wire before many police arrived and forced them back. The demonstrators remained peaceful, even when the police shoved some of them roughly to the ground. After several speeches were given explaining the illegality of the settlement and the grievances of the Palestinians, the demonstrators ended the protest peacefully. There were no arrests.

The illegal settlement of Karmei Tsur was established in 1984 and has confiscated several hundred dumunms of Beit Ommar land. The illegal settlement is expanding with the construction of new buildings and an outpost further down the hill.

The Solidarity tour programme offers an introduction to the different geographical and cultural regions of the West Bank. The tour is providing its participants with in-depth social, political and historical insights on Palestinian life. Read the full program here. (the program is also available in French, Italian, Spanish and Norwegian).

Watch a short introduction from the Beit Ommar area:

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Take a look at other recently published documentaries by PSP:

Watch a summary of a French groups`s experiences in Beit Ommar here:

”For what reason? House demolished in Al Jab`a …

”Land grab” a documentary about the Israeli occupation and a new bypass road.

Do you know where the food you buy come from? Do you know what to answer when people ask you why you boycott Israeli goods?

Watch PSP`s new short documentray about Israeli Occupation, lack of water and a new apartheid road.

Watch and read more about the new bypass road here.

More than 800 dumums of Beit Ommar and Shwoukh land will be taken by the Israelies for a 8km bypass road, starting from Gush Etzion. The settlers have already built a watch tower on a hill top in the area – the first step to establish a new settlement. The road to the planned settlement on Halhoul land will go through Beit Ommar and Shwoukh land and join in on the route 60 by Halhoul.

Many farmers will lose the land where they grow their crops. A lot of wine yards will be cut down, and houses might be demonlished.

Residents of Beit Ommar have already demonstrated against the new bypass road. Report here

Yatta with surrounding areas have a population of approximately 120 000 inhabitants. Many of the inhabitants live in small villages in remote areas.

The demonstrators walked towards the place where a couple of settler families have established themselves with miliary guard of no less than thirty soldiers.

The procession passed onto the shut down road, and walked up the hill to the place where five houses repeatedly have been demolished. The wells have been destroyed and the belongings to the persons who used to live there were scattered all over the place.

The demonstrators continued up towards the military forces in order to reach their land but were stoped by soldiers, military jeeps and police cars.
The National Committee of Yatta has decided to have weekly demonstrations against the wall , land grab, and house demolitions. The demonstrations will be planned by the National Committee in Yatta led by their leader, Khawlan Abu Marir – the only woman leader in the area.

The demonstrators in Beit Ommar marched from the centre of town towards the already closed down fruit marked and to one of the roadblocks close to Route 60.
During the demonstration the main entrance to Beit Ommar was closed for a while.
When the demonstrations withdrew from the scene Israeli soldiers fired tear gas into town.

Lately Israeli military forces have repeatedly entered the town of Beit Ommar. Report here: and confiscation orders have been given out all over the West Bank. Report here:

This week PSP began its annual farmer accompaniment program. Around dawn, international activists joined Beit Ommar farmers in harvesting grapes on land close to the illegal settlement of Kfar Etzion. In a busy but sucessful morning, volunteers assisted the famrers in picking and packing over fifty crates of grapes, which will be sold through the local farmers’ market.

Such accompaniments are neccessary as Beit Ommar farmers face the constant threat of harassment and violence from setllers and the Israeli military. Settlers regularly attack famrers trying to work in fields close to the five illegal settlements which surround Beit Ommar, and the Israeli army – who often accompany the settlers in their attacks – regularly arrest farmers or force them from their fields. Only last week, settlers from Karmei Tsur destroyed two fields of grapes in Beit Ommar (report here).

In January of this year, local student Yousef Ikhlayl, 17, was murdered by settlers from nearby Bat Ayin as he harvested his family’s grapes (report here).

In addition to the constant threat of violence, farm lands in Beit Ommar are also constantly under threat of confiscation, as the nearby settlements look to expand through the theft of more Palestinian land (report here).

This morning at around 7.30 am, Beit Ommar farmers Ali Thalji, aged 70, and his son Ahmed, 40, were harassed by a group of Israeli soldiers as they tended to their sheep on fields in Safa, Beit Ommar.

The group of soldiers approached from the direction of the illegal settlement of Bat Ayn, telling Ali and Ahmed that the land they were on – their own fields – had been appropriated by the Israeli State, and repeatedly told them to leave the area.

After approximately half an hour, the soldiers left without any major incidents, but it is a development of great concern to the residents of Safa, a suburb on the edge of Beit Ommar. This is because it implies that the settlement of Bat Ayn has designs on this area and may soon attempt to steal the farmer’s fields.

Beit Ommar residents and farmers face continual harassment from Bet Ayn settlers. Raw sewage is regularly piped down into the valley, rendering the land unusable during harvest time, approximately 30 000 olive trees have been burned by settlers in this area, and it is common practice for settlers to shoot farmers’ sheep if they come with range.

This January, local youth Youssef Ikhlayl, aged 17, was murdered by settlers from Bat Ayn as he picked olives in fields near Saffa. He was shot in the head, and never regained consciousness, while a 15-year-old who was also present survived despite being shot in the arm. For more information on Yousef’s murder, see here.

Bat Ayn is one of only two illegal settlements in the entire West Bank that is not surrounded by a fence and barbed wire. This is at the settlers own request, to allow them to maraud into Beit Ommar lands at will.