On Wednesday, December 9th volunteers from PSP joined other international and Palestinian solidarity activists and farmers in Um Salamuna to continue the planting of olive and almond trees. This planting project is an effort to reclaim the land around South Bethlehem in an attempt to prevent the surrounding settlements from expanding into and occupying it. This project began in early November and has been very successful, despite repeated harassment from local settlers and the Israeli military. However, on Thursday, December 3rd settlers uprooted and burned several dozen olive trees that had been recently planted. When the landowner complained to the Israeli Police, he was told that it … Continue reading

Some 100 Palestinians, 50 internationals and ten Israelis gathered this Friday in the village of Ma’asara for a wedding march, which was combined with the weekly anti-wall demonstration in order to highlight the severe personal and social implications of the occupation, the oppression and the wall. Demonstrators accompanied a couple that got married just the night before and two other couples disguised as newlyweds all the way across the village, with marriage songs and protest slogans interchanging and completing each other. Coming close to the end of the built area of the village the couples left to prepare themselves for the next part of the wedding-protest.

The rest … Continue reading

Over fifty demonstrators gathered in Al Ma’asara today for the weekly demonstration against Israel’s Apartheid Wall. As usual, the demonstrators marched from the center of town to the main road carrying a 30-foot long Palestinian flag and pictures of imprisoned loved ones, drumming and chanting “The Wall must fall!.”

The march was stopped by a line of nearly thirty Israeli soldiers, who had stretched a razor wire barrier across the road. The demonstrators gave speeches condemning the Wall and demanding an end to the occupation. At one point, several … Continue reading

Demonstrations in Ni’lin, Al-Ma’asara, Jayyous, and Bil’in continued this week against the construction of the Annexation Barrier, the confiscation of land, and the destruction of agricultural trees. This week, demonstrations also began in Wadi A-Rasha, a small village in the Qalqylia district that is confronting the destruction of their lands for the Annexation Barrier for a second time.
In Ni’lin, 8 people were injured, 4 by live ammunition, as Israeli forces invaded the village after a midday prayer, attempting to surround local youth. Tear gas, rubber-coated steel bullets, and small-caliber live ammunition were fired at the youth and at homes inside the village.
In Bi’lin a larger than usual gathering of nearly 100 people took their usual path towards the … 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

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 nearly 200 Palestinian men and women from throughout the Betlehem district as they commemorated the 1 year anniversary of persistent, non-violent struggle against the construction of the Annexation Barrier through the land of Um Salamuna. The residents of the south Betlehem villages have been waging a non-violent resistance against the theft of their land every week for a year. Friday, demonstrators gathered near the entrance to three villages: Wadi An-Nis, Um Salamuna, and Ma’asara. They then marched down the street towards Route 60, the major thoroughfare for both Palestinians and Israeli settlers. Chanting “no, no Wall” and carrying banners and posters from … Continue reading

This Friday Palestinians young and old wore red and white Santa Claus hats during their weekly demonstration against the Annexation Barrier, which is being constructed on their land. The people of Um Salamuna and Al-Mas’ara gathered with Israeli and international supporters at the entrance to Um Salamuna to again march along the road in protest of the confiscation of their agricultural land by the Israeli military. However, underlining the peaceful nature of the march by wearing festive costumes was not enough to prevent a heavy-handed response by the Israeli military, who attempted to prevent the people from marching along the road as they had for the past two weeks. The … Continue reading

Friday, international and Israeli activists joined Palestinians from the South Betlehem district for their weekly demonstration against the confiscation of their land for the construction of the Annexation Barrier. Last week, Israeli Occupation Forces violently pushed the demonstrators from the road leading from the villages of Um Salamuna and Al Ma’asara past Efrat settlement to Road 60, the major north-south thoroughfare in the Occupied West Bank. This week, as the activists gathered near the entrance to Al-Ma’asara, 12 IOF jeeps with dozens of soldiers approached the marchers and informed them that there was a new commander in charge and he was not going to allow anyone to walk on the street. … Continue reading