Destruction d'arbres dans le cimetiere de Aida/ Cutting of trees inside the cemetery of Aida refugee camp

(c) Anne Paq/ActiveStills.org, Aida refugee camp; 6 June 2007.

Aujourd'hui l'armée israélienne est rentrée dans le camp de Aida. les soldats rentrent souvent la nuit, mais cela faisait longtemps qu'ils n'etaient pas venus de jour. Ils sont venus couper des vieux pins dans le cimetiere de Aida, afin de construire une zone de "sécurité" autour de la tombe de Rachel. Est-ce le signe de constructions nouvelles autour de la tombe?
Les jeeps militaires, dans l'intention assez claire de provoquer les jeunes du camp; ont stationné toute la journée dans le camp, rentrant et ressortant sans cesse, en attendant les confrontations. Ils ont alors utilisé des gaz lacrimogenes, et en fin de journée, ils ont pris deux jeunes, un de 19 ans et un de 16 ans. l'etau autour du camp, comme des Palestiniens est en train de se resserer.

Army kidnaps two children from Aida refugee camp near Bethlehem

Wednesday June 06, 2007 15:51 by Dina Yasmeen - Ghassan Bannoura - IMEMC News ghassanb at imemc dot org

Two Palestinian children were reportedly kidnapped by Israeli forces that invaded Aida refugee camp in Bethlehem city located in the southern part of the West Bank on Wednesday afternoon.

Local sources told IMEMC that the two boys were Khaled Qaraq', 19, and Rafat Darwish, 15. The sources added that soldiers invaded the camp, clashed with local youth then searched homes and kidnapped the two boys.

Witnesses told IMEMC that tear gas was fired at the homes of residents during the raid.

Earlier in the day, Israeli settlers and soldiers illegally tried to raze a number of trees located in a graveyard near Aida refugee camp.

The graveyard is located near a Jewish holy site known as Rachel's Tomb. The trees were meant to be cut down in order to establish a wider security buffer zone around the wall in the area of the religious site.

The Palestinian Authority ministry of religious sites, which is responsible for the site, had recently protested the razing of the trees in the graveyard, and there was an agreement reached with the Israeli Supreme Court that any tree pruning should be carried out in coordination with and under the supervision of the Palestinian ministry of religious sites. This morning's action was unilateral on the part of the army and thus broke the recent legal agreement.

A group from the ministry of religious sites arrived at the scene and managed to stop the work while the relevant courts were consulted.

Throughout the duration of the conflict, an Israeli military vehicle stationed in front of the graveyard did not allow journalists to enter the site. Soldiers also regularly stopped civilian cars, searching some of them. A slight altercation occurred when local youth hurled stones at the military vehicle. Soldiers responded by storming nearby homes and searching them.