Um Salamoneh weekly Protest

(c) Anne Paq/ActiveStills.com
Um Salamoneh, Friday 8 June 2007

Lors de la manifestation non-violente organisée par les habitants du village de Um Salamoneh contre le Mur, les soldats israéliens ont une nouvelle fois fait preuve d'une grande violence. 7 personnes, 4 Palestiniens et 3 Israeliens ont été violemment apprehendés, certains avant même le début effectif de la manifestation. Un cameraman a été aussi attaqué.
Les manifestants se sont retrouvés coincés, les soldats les empechants d'emprunter la route pour rentrer dans leur village, tandis qu'un colon est venu tranquillement observer la scene, dans une zone qui etait censée etre une zone fermée militairement (et donc interdite aux civils).
La manifestation avait reuni plus d'une centaine de personnes, notamment des Palestiniens venus de Hebron.

Israeli army attacks non-violent protestors at Umm Salamoneh

Friday June 08, 2007 17:03 by John Smith & Ghassan Bannoura - 1 of International Middle East Media Center - IMEMC Editorial Group

On Friday, Palestinian residents of the West Bank village of Umm Salamoneh, located to the south of Bethlehem, carried out their weekly demonstration against land confiscation and the construction of the illegal wall that will isolate the village from its rightfully-owned agricultural land.

As it has done in the past, the Israeli army established a network of checkpoints and roadblocks around Umm Salamoneh, closing it to activists seeking to join the villagers in their non-violent protest.

In addition to closing off the area, the Israeli army kidnapped 2 local organizers, identified as Mohammed Brejieah and Abdullah Hajaj, as they travelled to the demonstration on Friday morning.

Despite the efforts of the military, the protest went ahead as planned and local residents were joined by a number of international peace activists.

After Friday prayers, the demonstrators marched towards the land scheduled for confiscation. On their way, the group was stopped by soldiers, who beat both protestors and journalists covering the action.

Eyewitness told IMEMC that a military force surrounded the demonstrators on all sides, preventing them from either moving forward or returning to the village.

After a brief scuffle which saw five Israeli activists kidnapped, the organizers decided to bring the demonstration to a close.