PALESTINE: One international arrested, two people injured during solidarity march

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CPTnet
29 March 2013
PALESTINE: One international arrested, two people injured
during solidarity march

Soldiers and border police disrupted a peaceful solidarity
march in the South Hebron Hills today. The soldiers attempted to arrest two Palestinians
and arrested one international. One international and one Palestinian were
injured.

On 29 March 2013 around 100 Palestinians and International
Human Rights groups, including the Freedom Bus, CPT
and others gathered in At Tuwani to take part in a solidarity march. The march
was a demonstration against the Israeli plans to expel all of the 1000
residents from the 7400 acre area of Masafer Yatta, claiming
that the land is needed to establish Firing Zone 918, an area for live
ammunition training.

 


 

Palestinians and Internationals plant olive
trees in At-Tuwani March 29 2013


The Palestinians and international Human Rights groups planted
olive tree saplings as an act of resistance on the hillside between At Tuwani
and the illegal settlement outpost of Havat Ma’on. The plan after
the planting was to visit the villages of Mufaqara, Tuba and then end in
al-Fakhit. Upon reaching the main road to Mufaqara, the group, waving flags,
singing and playing musical instruments, were met by two Israeli military jeeps
and an Israeli military van. Before they could reach Mufaqara, soldiers and
border police intercepted them and tried to arrest two Palestinian leaders of
the nonviolent popular resistance movement in the South Hebron Hills.

The soldiers and borders police scuffled with the marchers
and used force. One of the Palestinians was taken away in an ambulance. As people
tried to prevent soldiers from apprehending another Palestinian, soldiers
pushed two people to the ground and forcefully manhandled one of them. People
again tried to prevent the arrest and one Palestinian and one international
were injured and needed medical attention. Soldiers then dragged the
international man into the military van and took him to the police station. The
man’s lawyer informed CPT that he may now face charges of assaulting a soldier.

The group continued peacefully marching to rubble where a
mosque was demolished by the IDF, in the village of Mufaqara, then on to the
village of Khallet Athaba. Khallet Athaba has 20 stop work orders from the Israeli Government
and faces the threat of multiple demolitions. Palestinian elders from the
village spoke to the group of their continued nonviolent struggle against the
occupation and how the resilience of the Palestinians together with the
solidarity of Internationals is what is needed to challenge and eventually end
the occupation.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON THE JORDAN VALLEY AND SOUTH HEBRON
HILLS

Under the Oslo II Accord of 1995, the West Bank was divided
into 3 administrative regions know as Area A, B and C. Area C includes 61% of
the West Bank and falls under complete Israeli civil and military control.

International law prohibits land appropriation, resource
exploitation and population transfer by an occupying power. However, since the
1970’s, Israel has confiscated the vast majority of Palestinian land in the
South Hebron Hills (currently located in Area C.) Life for Palestinian
residents of the South Hebron Hills is characterized by home demolitions,
confiscation of livestock, restricted access to farming land and daily
harassment from settlers and the Israeli Forces. Most communities lack basic
services including schools, clinics, electricity, telephone lines,
running-water, or a sewage system and infrastructure built to meet these needs
is frequently demolished under orders issued by the Israeli Civil Administration.
Despite these egregious human rights violations, Palestinian communities in the
South Hebron Hills have exerted their right to exist and survive on traditional
homelands.

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