Residents of Aboud village, near Ramallah, Israeli and international peace activists, and two newly elected members of the Palestinian legislative council conducted a peaceful protest against the Separation Wall and settlements in the area.Hanna Khoury, member of the Popular committee Against the Wall in Aboud, told the IMEMC that the protest also marked the 24th anniversary of the reestablishment of the leftist Palestinian People Party.
Bassam Al Salhi, Secretary General of the Palestinian People Party, in addition to Fateh member Moheeb Awwad, a newly elected member of the Palestinian legislative council, and an international activist spoke in turn during the protest affirming the Palestinian steadfastness, peaceful resistance against the Wall and settlements, and slammed the controversial cartoon printed in a Danish newspaper, two weeks ago.
They slammed cartoons which were seen insulting to Islam’s prophet Mohammad, and what was described as an attempt to break the good ties between Muslims and Christians in the Palestinian territories and elsewhere.
As the protesters marched towards a construction site, soldiers chased dozens of youth and blocked the road in an attempt to stop the marchers.
The youth hurled stones at the soldiers who obstructed the peaceful procession. Soldiers fired rounds of live ammunition in the air and attempted to disperse the protesters.
Dozens of youth attempted to remove concrete blocks placed by the military bulldozers in order to mark the construction route of the Wall.
Meanwhile, Khoury stated that after the residents appealed against the route of the wall to the Israeli High Court of Justice, soldiers informed them that a temporary injunction was issued to shift the route.
On the ground, the ongoing construction is annexing more lands from the residents and is distancing it from the settlements by grabbing more lands around these settlements.
Lawyer of the Popular Committee, Mohammad Dahla, said that so far the soldiers did not uproot trees in the area, because the construction is being carried out in empty area, but the planned route indicates that the coming stage will include grabbing and bulldozing farmlands.
“We will achieve a ruling to bar the uprooting of the trees, and farmlands,” Dahla stated. “The court said that the route will be shifted, we still did not receive any new maps or plans.”
Since Israel started the construction of the Wall in Aboud, 1700 Dunams of farmlands were annexed, and bulldozed. An additional 3000 Dunams will be isolated behind the Wall.
