Documentary film, “Against the Wall: the Battle for Al Walaja”
In a small Palestinian village between the ancient cities of Bethlehem and Jerusalem, lies the village of Al Walaja.
In early 2010, the Israeli military entered the village to oversee the confiscation of Palestinian land for the construction of Israel’s separation barrier, in defiance of international law.
In the months since, the people of Al Walaja, with support from Israeli and international activists, have launched a spirited campaign of non-violent resistance against the theft of their land.
Featuring in depth interviews with the people at the front of the struggle,”Against the Wall: the Battle for Al Walaja” offers a rare insight into the proud struggle of a small community against near impossible odds.
If the wall is completed, the village will be surrounded on all sides by concrete and barbed wire, forming an open air prison, with only one entry and exit point under military control.
As yet, both the wave of demonstrations and appeals to the Israeli Supreme Court have not stopped construction, and several villagers have lost land whilst others have been arrested for demonstrating their opposition.
Yet despite the threat of intimidation and arrest and the ongoing construction which continues to date, the villagers are refusing to back down from their peaceful protests.
vendredi 12 novembre 2010, par La Rédaction
A Palestinian boy looks on at Israeli police officers during a weekly demonstration supporting Palestinians evicted from their homes in the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, Friday, Nov. 12, 2010.
(AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
22 octobre 2010
Four years and going strong
The popular struggle in Ma’asara stops the fence of annexation
October 2006 saw the beginning of regular demonstrations against the fence in the South Bethlehem region: women and kids from the villages most harmed by the fence stood in front of bulldozers and stopped the construction, and Palestinians and Israelis joined hands in a popular non-violent struggle to defend the land and stop the settlements.
Now, after four years of constant popular resistance in the face of on going military oppression, violence and arrests, we unite in a larger demonstration than usual, and tell the occupation forces that our message still stands:
Nov 09, 2010 12:04 am | Hamde Abu Rahme
(Photo: Hamde Abu Rahme)
Today, November 9 at about 3:00 in the morning, the Israeli army entered the village of Bil’in. About 50 soldiers entered the village by jeep and foot. When they arrived at the two targeted houses, they ran and took positions outside while a number of soldiers entered the house.
(Photo: Hamde Abu Rahme)
At first the soldiers were hammering on the door of one house, demanding to see 30-year old Ashraf al-Khatib. It turned out they went to the wrong house. They then went to another house – forcing one of Ashraf’s brothers to show them where Ashraf lives. Soldiers then entered that house, and his brother’s family’s house, and again they woke up the family, asking for Ashraf al-Khatib. His brother, Haytham al-Khatib, is a journalist from the human right’s group B’tselem and was of the ones woken up by the army. Even though they entered a house where their target didn’t live, they stayed there for about one and a half hours, searching all the rooms.
Haytham al-Khatib told me about his 6-year-old son’s reaction to waking up to see dozens of soldiers in his house, “he asked me to close the door, because he didn’t want to see them.” Haytham himself was prevented when he wanted to record the raid in his family’s houses – the soldiers simply locked him in a room for more than an hour, away from his children and wife. The children in the houses are ages 1,5 and 8 years old, and this is not the first time they have seen their homes raided at night.
However, after 1.5 hours of searching for the target in three houses, two of which he doesn’t reside in, Ashraf al-Khatib was not found. Five weeks ago Ashraf was shot in his leg with live ammunition by an Israeli soldier during a demonstration in Bil’in. The bullet went through his leg, breaking the bone. Even though he was heavily injured and in major pain, the soldiers tried to arrest him. Luckily he was brought to safety, and then taken to a hospital for surgery by fellow protesters. Tonight the army decided to come and take him in front of his wife and 1.5 year old daughter instead.
The soldiers finally retreated from the targeted houses by foot, walking toward the military road that follows the illegal segregation fence in Bil’in, at about 4.30 AM. The village of Bil’in has suffered from frequent night raids over the last few years, and a number of villagers have been taken for interrogation and imprisoned for their non-violent resistance to the occupation and segregation wall on Bil’in’s land.
(Photo: Hamde Abu Rahme)
In light of growing military violence towards demonstrators in Nabi Saleh recently, protesters attempted to march to their lands in two separate groups, which were both aggressively blocked by the soldiers and Border Police officer well inside the village.
An injured demonstrator treated by a Red Crescent medic
While one group was attacked by massive amounts of tear-gas from afar, the second group – mostly composed of women, international activists and older men, was attacked with tear-gas and pepper spray, at close range, and for no apparent reason.
The village was then swarmed with huge forces of soldiers and Border Police officers, who took over three houses, shooting demonstrators from their rooftops with scores of rubber-coated bullets and tear-gas projectiles.
The clashes that evolved after the army has attacked the demonstration continued until dark, when the soldiers finally left the village and retreated to the checkpoint at its entrance. 22 people were injured at varying degrees of severity, including a 10 year-old girl who was shot in the arm with a rubber-coated bullet, two journalists and a twenty year-old woman, who broke her ankle after being hit with a tear-gas projectile. In total, seven people required hospitalization.
Shattered windows in a car belonging to an Israeli activist after Border Police officers shot at it
After the soldiers have left, an Israeli activist noticed that all the windows of his car were broken. An eyewitness saw Border Police officers take pictures of the car and afterwards shooting rubber-coated bullets towards it. A few of these bullets were found inside the car.
The residents of Nabi Saleh have been holding regular demonstrations against the creeping confiscation of their lands by the adjacent Jewish-only settlement of Halamish since December 2009. Protest was sparked after settlers, abated by the Army, forcefully took over a natural spring belonging to the village.
The hilltop village of Nabi Saleh is home to approximately 550 residents and is located 30 kilometers northeast of Ramallah along highway 465. Residents have been holding regular demonstrations against the creeping confiscation of their lands by the adjacent Jewish-only settlement of Halamish since December 2009. Protest was sparked after settlers, abated by the Army, forcefully took over a natural spring belonging to the village.
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