Dozens of Palestinian women from throughout the Bethlehem and Hebron districts demonstrated in Umm Salamuna against land confiscation on Thursday. Israeli forces are pushing the Wall through the southern Bethlehem village‘s lands, which will isolate thousands of residents.
Representatives from institutions throughout the southern West Bank gathered in protest on the occasion of women‘s day. Palestinian flags flew and messages painted on banners condemned the Israeli occupation, including building the Wall, settlement expansion, arrests, assassinations and incursions.
Several women spoke at the event including one who said that the Israelis are not interested in peace, but rather in Palestinian land without the Palestinians.
Joining them was the head of the Local Village Council, Mahmoud Rashid, who saluted Palestinian women. “The occupation bulldozers are working day night in the southern Bethlehem villages, starting in Umm Salamuna and Wad Rahal. Tens of thousands of people will become the citizens of large jails with the confiscation of 1,500 dunams right here and the Wall. There will be no interaction with the outside, with other towns. The only way through will be the gates in the middle of the the Wall opened by soldiers on their own time.”
Bethlehem‘s Governor, Salah Tamari, and Chairperson of the Land Defense Committee, Khalid Al Azzeh, came for Women‘s Day and in support of the village. They walked throughout the neighborhoods and met with a number of residents who described the pace of Israeli work in destroying the area as frenetic.
Governor Tamari pointed out that the work has continued although the Israeli court issued an order to stop construction after it accepted Umm Salamuna landownership documents. He asked for the intervention of the international community to push the Israelis to honor international law, and for the Palestinian Authority to work harder against land confiscation. Bethlehem and Beit Sahour will become separated from many of their surrounding towns, particularly now in the south and west.
Lawyer Osama Halabi informed the Governor on Thursday that the Ministry of Finance had promised to pay court costs for getting an injunction, but it has not. The people of the village collected the fees among themselves.
Governor Tamari pledged his support to the Village Council in the struggle against the hostile takeover of southern Bethlehem lands that affect Palestinian women, men and children.