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

Yesterday, international and Israeli activists joined Palestinians from the South Betlehem area in their weekly demonstration against the construction of the Annexation Barrier on their agricultural land. Participants met in the entrance to Um Salamuna and began marching down the street, which has both Palestinian and Israeli settler traffic from Efrat to Tekoa. Demonstrators were not attempting to block the road to vehicular traffic, but rather were making sure that their message of “no, no to the Wall!” and “End the Occupation!” was heard. When the approached the site of the construction of the barrier, soldiers from the Israeli Occupation Forces stopped the march in the middle of the streets. … Continue reading

This morning when a farmer and his family attempted to pick the olives from their trees that may be inaccessible next year if the Annexation Barrier is completed as planned, the Israeli military forbade them from going to their land, which is near the illegal Israeli settlement Efrat. So the plans for the weekly demonstration in Um Salamuna against the construction of the Annexation Barrier were altered and international activists joined the farmer and his family and other demonstrators to bring in their olive harvest.

Demonstrators began with trees on what will remain on the “Palestinian side” of the Fence, but then decided that they would … Continue reading

This week Palestinians and internationals demonstrated against the bulldozers which were once again tearing up grapevines near the road to the Efrat settlement on the land of Um Salamuna. For the past several months the Israeli military has not used the bulldozers on Fridays since the people of the South Betlehem district have been organizing weekly demonstrations against the construction of the Annexation Barrier on their land. Today, however, demonstrators arrived to find that the bulldozers were indeed at work again, destroying their agricultural land and way of life.

The group of Palestinians and internationals marched towards the bulldozers, coming within 50 meters of them before they were stopped by … Continue reading

October 2, 2007 was the International Day of Nonviolence. On Friday October 5, in commemoration of this day, international and Israeli activists joined Palestinians from Um Salamuna and the wider Betlehem region who have been struggling against the construction of the Annexation Fence through their land for the past 8 months in a demonstration on the land of Um Salamuna. Demonstrators marched to the path of The Fence and then began to march towards their lands which will be confiscated and added to the Efrat settlement. Dozens of Israeli Occupation soldiers came down from the settlement prevent the demonstrators from continuing their march.
When the soldiers met the march, … Continue reading

On Friday, August 31, international and Israeli activists joined the people of Um Salamuna in their weekly demonstration against the Annexation Fence being built on their land. This week, the march took a new path, walking up into the land of Hassan, a farmer who will lose most of his land to the illegal settlement of Efrat if the Annexation Fence is completed. This was the first time in over 3 months that Hassan has been able to access his land, which is close to the settlement and on the other side of the where the Fence is being constructed. As demonstrators began walking up into Hassan’s vineyards, the Israeli … Continue reading

This friday international and Israeli activists joined the people in Al-Walaja, Betlehem district, as they continued their struggle against the construction of the Annexation Barrier on their land. The demonstration began in the street of Al-Walaja, where a sheikh described the current situation in Al-Walaja and the devastating impact the Annexation Barrier will have on their community. After a collective prayer, the demonstrators marched to the land that had recently been bulldozed by the Israeli Occupation Forces. A woman from the community spoke passionately about the role of the international community. In particular, she directed her comments to Christians worldwide. A nearby monastery that was built many years … Continue reading

The Betlehem region was the site of two demonstrations against the construction of the Annexation Barrier this friday. International and Israeli activists first joined the residents of Artas in their now weekly demonstration against the construction of a sewage drainage area for the settlement of Efrat and the section of the Annexation Barrier that are being built on Artas’ land. Palestinian, international and Israeli demonstrators marched from the village to the site of the current construction. A small concrete structure has been built on land that less than two months ago was filled with fruit trees. Sewage from the Israeli settlement will now be piped into the valley which … 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