On Sunday, October 3, 2010, farmers from Saffa, accompanied by international and Israeli solidarity activists, worked their lands near the illegal Israeli settlement of Bat Ayn. The Palestine Solidarity Project has organized a campaign in the Saffa Valley to support the farmers every Sunday, Monday, and Thursday over the next couple of months as they clear their lands in preparation for planting. Over the last several years, the farmers have been harassed by settlers from Bat Ayn or prevented from reaching their lands by the Israeli military.

This past Sunday, on the first day of the campaign, farmers cleared the land by burning and … Continue reading

On Monday, September 27th, 2010, at around 7am, Israeli settlers from Migdal Oz used a bulldozer to clear 2 dunams of Palestinian land in the southern West Bank. The land belongs to Abed al Halim Abu Ayyesh from Beit Ommar. The settlers began clearing his land close to the entrance of Migdal Oz just hours after the expiration of a 10-month freeze in settlement construction. Part of the land was cleared with the bulldozer, presumably for construction, while rocks were piled in another area. Migdal Oz was constructed in 1977 on land stolen from Beit Ommar villagers, and now houses 300 settlers.
… Continue reading

On Saturday, September 25, the National Committee in Beit Ommar, together with the Palestine Solidarity Project, organized a demonstration near the illegal Karmei Tsur settlement after midday prayers. The protesters held signs expressing solidarity with Silwan, where demonstrators have clashed with the Israeli military for three days after two Palestinians were shot and killed by settler security guards. The demonstration also commemorated the anniversary of the massacres of hundreds of Palestinians in the Sabra and Shatilla refugee camps in Lebanon. Additionally, the villagers demanded the release of Palestinian political prisoners, and particularly the release of Yousef Abu Maria, a 17 year old boy from Beit Ommar who has been held in Israeli prisoner for 3 months despite an … Continue reading

by Joseph Dana

“At 3:30 or 4am I heard some noise outside of my window,” Silwan resident Abdallah Rajmi told me as we stood on a narrow street in the middle of a battle between young Palestinian stone throwers and Israeli occupation forces from the Border Police. “I thought it was a simple drunken fight but then I heard a lot of noise coming from the people involved and my neighbors began waking up.”

Silwan is a neighborhood in occupied East Jerusalem, near the walled Old City, and is the target of an ongoing Israeli government plan to demolish dozens of Palestinian homes and replace them with Israeli settlements and … Continue reading

Ibrahim Muhammad Biss’s curiosity was slightly piqued when a car driving slowly along Route 60 came to a halt in front of him and his group of friends at the entrance to the Aroub refugee camp just north of Beit Ommar on a Thursday in early June. 16-year- old Ibrahim, who lives in the camp, was waiting for traffic to pass so he could cross the street to enter the Aroub Agricultural College. Assuming the driver was stopping to ask the boys for directions, Ibrahim watched as the middle-aged man lowered the window.

Instead of an inquiring foreigner, Ibrahim found himself facing an Israeli settler pointing a handgun at … Continue reading

This Saturday a group of Palestinian, Israeli and international activists were met in the vineyards of Beit Ommar by several Israeli soldiers as they attempted to make their way to the fence surrounding the illegal Israeli settlement Karmei Tsur, built on Beit Ommar land. The soldiers insisted on preventing the group from even approaching the outer fence, declaring the entire area a closed military zone and arresting two Israeli activists. Unlike the international and Palestinian activists who have been arrested in the same area in recent weeks (the Palestinian arrested last week is still in jail; the internationals were banned from the entire West Bank for the remainder of their visas, pending appeal), the Israeli activists were released … Continue reading

From Robert B.

Al Jab’a, a village of 700 people, sits in the path of a section of the apartheid wall which Israel has scheduled for construction at a future stage. It lies south west of Bethlehem, just one kilometre from the 1967 Green Line – inside the Palestinian West Bank.
From the hillsideone can see, not too far distant, the colony/settlements of Bat Ayn, Betar Ellit, Nahal Gavot and the monstrous Gush Etzion, all built on Palestinian land. It is no wonder that the people feel that their future is precarious.

Present-day life is hard enough. For anything but the most basic necessities villagers rely on shops … Continue reading

Last Wednesday, May 12, 500 settlers from the Karmei Zur settlement, which is located south of Beit Ummar, blocked the Route 60, which links Jerusalem to Hebron. Settlers walked all the way to Gush Etzion settlement with the help and protection of the Israeli army and police, causing a roadblock for five hours. They also blocked the access to Beit Ummar and Al Aroub Refugee camp for two hours.

At the settlers’ request, Israeli army and police ensured that no Palestinian would disturb their protest, which is against the police and army mandate. They were more concerned about the march than about all the traffic blocked and commotion it … Continue reading

In Al-Walaja Thursday, May 6, a small group of Palestinians, internationals and Israelis surprised the bulldozer operators destroying agricultural land for construction of the Annexation Barrier and managed to avoid Israeli forces and block the bulldozer’s progression for nearly half an hour before being violently pulled out of the way. 3 Palestinians were seriously injured, with 2 reported broken limbs.

In Ni’lin on Friday, May 7, residents, also joined by Israeli and international activists, marched towards the now-completed barrier that cuts through their agricultural land. The copious amount of tear gas shot as usual was less effective, mostly blowing harmlessly out of the area. The demonstration lasted … Continue reading

Overnight Wednesday, April 21, thousands of gallons of sewage have been deliberately pumped onto 75 dunums (25 acres) of vineyards by settlers from Gush Etzion. The farmers in Beit Ommar have just started picking vine leaves which, with the harvest of grapes, constitutes their total livelihood. The fetid water was pumped from a 100mm pipe which protrudes several metres through the boundary fence of Gush Etzion settlement; whoever opened the valve did so in full knowledge that it would flood dozens of fields contaminating the fruit and destroying the harvest.

This eco-terrorism has regularly been used against the farmers in the village. PSP has provided copies of the photographic evidence … Continue reading