| Solidarity Actions with the Inhabitants of South Hebron Area September 2001 - December 2004 [לעמוד בעברית לחצו כאן] |
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- - - please wait for 26 photos to download - -
- In the south of the West Bank, in the Yatta
region, are a number of
villages - each containing dozens of Palestinian families dwelling in
caves and shacks -- who live from farming and shepherding. For years,
the Civil Administration has tried to expel these families from their
villages, claiming that they have no right to live there, and that
their
houses were built without due authorization. In July 2001, the Civil
Administration decided, together with the I.D.F., to demolish houses in
five villages in the region, in which about 1000 Palestinians reside:
Susya, Wadi al Rakhim, Khirbet al Nabi, Amnayzil and Khirbet al
Na'atshe. Beyond demolishing shelters, fences and baking (tabun) ovens,
I.D.F. soldiers and Civil Administration workers poured stones, sand
debris into six wells that served as their only source of water. These
families are facing difficult shortage of water and food, some of the
amilies are living in deserted cars and some directly under the sun. A solidarity convoy, carrying food and water to demolished villages in South Hebron area, was held on Saturday, September 15th. In our convoy, organized by the Jerusalem group of Ta'ayush - Arab-Jewish Partnership, we expressed our solidarity with the people in the demolished villages by delivering water and essential food supplies. This action opened a series of solidarity actions & events, marking the culmination of a whole year of Intifada and with it a whole year of Seger, Keter, bombing, executions and other atrocities inflicted by Israeli policy. The series of actions is coordinated by a coalition of peace organizations, including Ta'ayush, under the name Solidarity - Organizations against the occupation. |
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On Sunday,
16.9.01
, only 24 hours after we led the solidarity
convoy of food and water, the Israeli army arrived, destroying the
dwellings and water sources of the families we had visited and of other
families in the vicinity. 118 people were expelled from their lands to
Palestinian-controlled areas (area A). |
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This gradual deportation is happening before
our very eyes while the
media continues to speak of "the ceasefire" and "alleviation of the
siege". We cannot desert our Palestinian partners in this hour of
trial. |
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On 25 September 2001 a petition was submitted to the Israeli High
Court demanding that the Palestinians be permitted to return to their
homes. |
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On foot and on tractor wagons we wended our
way to the Palestinians property. The military and police were present
but did not interfere. We divided into several groups, each led by one
of our hosts and one of our members who translated, and visited the
sites of the destructions, learned the history of the area and the
history of the persecutions that these people had suffered by the
settlers and military. After, we gathered for closing talks. Among
these was that of lawyer who is handling the inhabitants’ complaints,
Shlomo Lecker. He urged us to make our presence felt regularly and to
bring greater numbers. Would that we could. |
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Meanwhile, Defence Minister, Fuad Ben Eliezer,
has stated that the residents can return and that the army should take
no further acts against them without consulting him. What this means,
remains to be seen. Hopefully, we’ve won this one battle. But nothing
is certain, and there are many more of these kinds of things ahead. |
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Ta'ayush people remained in the area until the
afternoon to make sure that the settlers won't harass the Palestinians
during the harvest. |
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The group then continued to the Minister of
defence
residence to demonstrate against the army's decisions with signs such
as: "IDF - the Settler's Army" and "the army prevents peace activities"
(for more details in Hebrew see Indymedia's article: "שיעור בדמוקרטיה
פעילה" below and Shmulik's summary of the events).
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Ta'ayush actively continues to support the ongoing presence of the Palestinian residents in the Susya region. A report in Hebrew on the visit of October 13th was published in Indymedia, and Neve Gordon's report on the visit of November 16th is quoted below: |
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"Last Friday, together with five Ta'ayush
activists -- the movement for Arab-Israeli partnership -- I traveled to
the South Hebron region to visit the Al-Nuagah family. The Israeli
military and Civil Administration had evicted the Palestinian residents
from their land a few months earlier in a well-orchestrated campaign. |
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Click here for a photographed report on
Ta'ayush solidarity convoy of January 11, 2002. |
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Return to Ta'ayush Home Page |
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info@taayush.org |
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Photos by Dafna Hirsch, Smadar Sharon, Regev Nathansohn and Ronni.
Web design by Regev Nathansohn
