Saturday, March 03, 2007

Destruction d'arbres à cause du Mur/ Uprooted and destroyed trees because of the Wall






(c) Anne Paq/tourbillonphoto.com, Um Salamoneh, Feb.2007

Um Salamoneh est un village posé dans de tres beaux paysages, au Sud de Bethlehem. Ces paysages sont en train d'etre detruits par la construction du Mur, construit ici a 12 km de la Ligne verte, 5 villages( Um Salamonah , Massara, Jourt ALsham'a, Wad Rahal, Thabra, Marah Molla, Khalet Alhadad, Marah Rabah, Manshya, wad Alniss) vont perdre 2500 Donoms from the villages of South Bethlehem et vont etre encore plus isolés. Chaque vendredi, une manifestation non-violente est organisée.

Um Salamoneh is a village surrounding by beautiful landscapes, south of Bethlehem. These landscapes are being destroyed by the construction of the Wall. The Wall is built here 12 km from the Green Line. the wall will take 2500 Donoms from the villages of South Bethlehem which are ( Um Salamonah , Massara, Jourt ALsham'a, Wad Rahal, Thabra, Marah Molla, Khalet Alhadad, Marah Rabah, Manshya, wad Alniss). These villages organise non-violent demonstration every Friday.


Non-Violent protest in Um Salamoneh

author Friday March 02, 2007 19:02author by Ghassan Bannoura - IMEMCauthor email ghassanb at imemc dot org Report this post to the editors
On Friday, the village of Um Salamoneh, near Bethlehem in the southern part of the West Bank, was the scene of a non-violent protest against the construction of the illegal Israeli wall.

um_salamunah.jpg

Today, villagers from Um Salamoneh and nearby villages were joined by international and Israeli supporters. Together, they conducted the Friday prayers on the farmland where the Israeli authorities want to build the Wall. The protest then moved towards a nearby settler-only road, which protestors blocked for some time. The Israeli army arrived at the scene, and a small scuffle broke out. No injuries were reported. The demonstration then proceeded back to the village, where it ended.

Israeli bulldozers started destroying land belonging to Um Salamoneh on Tuesday. Palestinian farmers and villagers from Um Salamoneh and the surrounding villages protested this action at the site, and were joined by Israeli and International supporters. The Israeli army attacked and injured several villagers, and abducted one local youth, who was released shortly after.

On Wednesday, two Palestinians, five Internationals and six Israelis climbed upon a bulldozer, while it was stationary, and succeeded in preventing it from destroying the farmland. Two international and four Israeli activists were abducted by the Israeli army and taken to Gush Etzion prison. They were released after a few hours, on the condition that they do not return to the site of the non-violent demonstration for 15 days.

The Wall will cause the isolation of several villages south of Bethlehem, especially the villages of Wad Rahhal, Um Salamoneh, Al Ma'sara and Wad Al Niss. Um Salamoneh stands to have 700 dunums of agricultural land annexed and 270 dunums confiscated for the route of the Wall. Ten villages surrounding Bethlehem stand to lose 70,000 grape vines and 1000 olive trees through the construction of the wall, with countless more annexed on the far side.


More than 1200 persons gathered in Um Salamonah village to the south of Bethlehem, internationals, Israelis and Palestinians.

1) people pray at the mosque of the village

2) they went in marsh through the village to the main road of settlement Efrat Gush Atsyoun and Tequa

3) walking on the road for more than 400meters closing this road in a nonviolence way

4) the people gathered in the land which will be taken by the wall in an old Palestinian house which will be separated by the wall

5) people from the community of resisting the wall have a speech (Mahmoud Zwahra) after that a speech for a member of Palestinian Parliament ( Mostafa Bargoti ), after that a speech in English by Sami Awad. A speech from the Israelis and the internationals. All of the speeches concentrated on the illegality of the wall and the effects of the wall on the farmers and the Palestinians in general

6) among all of that the Israeli solders surround the people pushing people towards violence but the people ignore them

7) while the people going home through the same way the solders attack some people, so three were injured and 10 were arrested temporary and they release them later

at the end Mahmoud Zwahra thanks all of the participants and invite them to the next activity next Friday and come during the week to stop the bulldozers from destroying the fields

some facts for knowledge

1) the wall is built on the land of the Palestinian 12km to the east of the green line

2) the wall will take 2500 Donoms from the villages of South Bethlehem which are ( Um Salamonah , Massara, Jourt ALsham'a, Wad Rahal, Thabra, Marah Molla, Khalet Alhadad, Marah Rabah, Manshya, wad Alniss)

community of resisting the wall

coordinator Mahmoud Zwahra 0599586004



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