[News] Palestinians dodge Israeli soldiers to retake village in occupied West Bank

[Anti-Imperialist News]

  Palestinians dodge Israeli soldiers to retake village in occupied West
  Bank

Patrick O. Strickland 
<http://electronicintifada.net/people/patrick-o-strickland>
The Electronic Intifada 
<http://electronicintifada.net/people/electronic-intifada>
http://electronicintifada.net/content/palestinians-dodge-israeli-soldiers-retake-village-occupied-west-bank/13141 
<http://electronicintifada.net/location/jordan-valley>
4 February 2014

Hundreds of Palestinians assembled and erected a protest village in the 
occupied West Bank <http://electronicintifada.net/tags/west-bank> on 
Friday, 31 January. By Monday morning, Israeli military forces had the 
area surrounded and had arrested several activists en route to the area.

Organizers announced a new campaign --- /Milh al-Ard/ (Arabic for "Salt 
of the Earth") --- in response to Israel's ongoing efforts to colonize 
and annex the Jordan Valley 
<http://electronicintifada.net/tags/jordan-valley>. The protest village 
is situated among the ruins of Ein Hijleh, an historic Palestinian 
village forcibly depopulated by Israel's army in the 1967 war 
<http://electronicintifada.net/tags/1967-war>.

Groups of Palestinians came from across present-day Israel, occupied 
East Jerusalem <http://electronicintifada.net/tags/east-jerusalem> and 
the broader West Bank. As of Friday night, Diana Alzeer, spokesperson 
for the Popular Struggle Coordination Committee 
<http://electronicintifada.net/tags/palestinian-struggle-coordination-committee> 
(PSCC), estimated that around 500 persons were camped out in Ein Hijleh.

"We brought over 40 people in buses and cars," Bassem Tamimi 
<http://electronicintifada.net/tags/bassem-tamimi>, a prominent 
Palestinian activist from the village of Nabi Saleh 
<http://electronicintifada.net/tags/nabi-saleh>, told The Electronic 
Intifada. Other large groups came from places like Bilin 
<http://electronicintifada.net/tags/bilin>, Ramallah 
<http://electronicintifada.net/tags/ramallah>, Abu Dis 
<http://electronicintifada.net/tags/abu-dis> and Dheisheh refugee camp 
<http://electronicintifada.net/tags/dheisheh-refugee-camp>. There was 
also a small presence of activists from the International Solidarity 
Movement 
<http://electronicintifada.net/tags/international-solidarity-movement>.

Tamimi added, "Our whole families came, including our wives and children 
because we cannot be truly liberated from the occupation if they do not 
struggle alongside us."

On the side of an Israeli highway that dissects the West Bank, the land 
of Ein Hijleh belongs to the Orthodox Church and is surrounded from all 
sides by Israeli army bases, settlements 
<http://electronicintifada.net/tags/israeli-settlements> and closed 
military zones.

On Friday morning, one bus of activists with the PSCC was stopped by 
Israeli military forces at a "flying" (temporary) checkpoint between 
Ramallah and Jericho <http://electronicintifada.net/tags/jericho>. After 
being told they were forbidden from passing, activists got off the bus 
and marched past the soldiers and began directing traffic themselves. 
With the soldiers confused and distracted, the passengers subsequently 
got back on the bus and continued to Ein Hijleh.


    Army "could not stop us"

Over the weekend, Israeli soldiers began to limit access to the area, 
closing parts of Highway 90 and reportedly turning away journalists and 
activists. Though soldiers have tried to prevent activists from 
delivering food and supplies to the village, the campers were able to 
receive food from families from the surrounding communities.

Mustafa Barghouti 
<http://electronicintifada.net/tags/mustafa-barghouti>, a Palestinian 
politician and activist, told The Electronic Intifada that the event 
brought out a "fantastic level of participation," particularly among 
Palestinian youth.

The action is "also a great organizational success because the Israeli 
army could not stop us," Barghouti added. "They spread a huge number of 
soldiers everywhere, but they didn't know where we're going and how 
we're going to get there."

Within hours of arriving, the Israeli military had the area surrounded 
on all sides. Though highways and dirt paths leading to the area were 
spotted with military jeeps and border police, people continued to pour 
into the area well into Friday evening.

By Saturday morning, however, Israeli occupation forces had begun to 
prevent journalists and activists from reaching Ein Hijleh. Campers 
reported that they had begun rebuilding old uninhabited homes in the 
village.

Campers in Ein Hijleh are sleeping in the remains of homes and tents. 
They have brought with them supplies, such as electricity generators, 
gas, food and drink.


    "Linking to our history"

"We are building on several [previous] direct actions," explained 
Alzeer. "But this is different because we are actually reclaiming a 
Canaanite village that used to exist, actually linking it to our 
Palestinian history on the land and our existence [here]."

But the most important aspect of this latest direct action, Alzeer 
added, is "that it is taking place in the Jordan Valley."

The vast majority of the Jordan Valley falls within Area C 
<http://electronicintifada.net/tags/area-c>, the 60 percent of the West 
Bank designated to full Israeli military and civil control by the Oslo 
accords <http://electronicintifada.net/tags/oslo-accords>.

According to a report by the Israeli human rights group B'Tselem 
<http://electronicintifada.net/tags/btselem>, more than 64,000 
Palestinians lived in the Jordan Valley in 2009. They were vulnerable to 
Israeli military attacks and forced evictions, the report stated. 
Additionally, nearly 10,000 Israeli settlers 
<http://electronicintifada.net/tags/settlers> lived in Jewish-only 
settlements across the Jordan Valley ("Dispossession and exploitation: 
Israel's policy in the Jordan Valley and northern Dead Sea 
<http://www.btselem.org/sites/default/files/201105_dispossession_and_exploitation_eng.pdf>," 
May 2011 [PDF]).

In recent months, several Palestinian communities across the Jordan 
Valley have been demolished. Last Thursday, homes and structures 
belonging to over a dozen families were razed by Israeli bulldozers in 
the Palestinian community of Khirbet Jamal ("Soldiers Invade Homes, 
Conduct Training, In West Bank Village 
<http://www.imemc.org/article/66863>," IMEMC, 30 January 2014).

On 8 January, Israeli forces attacked the shepherding community of 
Khirbet Ein Karzaliyah, leaving 25 persons --- 15 of them minors --- 
without shelter in harsh winter conditions. Israeli authorities 
confiscated the tents given to the displaced families by the 
International Committee of the Red Cross 
<http://electronicintifada.net/tags/icrc> ("Israeli authorities demolish 
Palestinian shepherding community in Jordan Valley 
<http://www.btselem.org/press_releases/20140108_ein_al_carzaliyah_demolitions>," 
B'Tselem, 8 January 2014).

In 2013 alone, more than 1,000 persons were displaced in East Jerusalem 
and the rest of the West Bank by demolitions 
<http://electronicintifada.net/tags/home-demolitions> and evictions, 
James Rawley <http://electronicintifada.net/tags/james-rawley>, the UN's 
humanitarian coordinator, said recently ("UN slams Israel destruction of 
Jordan Valley homes 
<http://www.maannews.net/Eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=669876>," Ma'an News 
Agency, 1 February 2014).

On 16 September last year, more than 120 persons were displaced from 
Khirbet al-Makhul <http://electronicintifada.net/tags/khirbet-al-makhul> 
after Israeli military and police forces bulldozed 
<http://electronicintifada.net/content/photos-israeli-forces-raze-jordan-valley-community/12836> 
the homes of 12 families.

Home to a vast array of natural resources, the area has been repeated 
plundered by Israel. B'Tselem stated that 77.5 percent of the Jordan 
Valley is off limits to the indigenous Palestinian population.


    "Fertile"

"The Jordan Valley is one of the most fertile areas in Palestine, in 
terms of agriculture, in terms of water 
<http://electronicintifada.net/tags/water> resources [and] minerals," 
said Alzeer.

"Palestinians have been evacuated from the Jordan Valley. Their houses 
have been demolished constantly. Land is being confiscated and we have 
no access to using water."

Thousands of Palestinians in Bedouin 
<http://electronicintifada.net/tags/bedouins> communities across all of 
Area C are facing imminent eviction to make way for new Jewish-only 
areas and the expansion of existing ones ("Thousands of Palestinians in 
Area C face threat of expulsion from their homes 
<http://www.btselem.org/area_c/expulsions_of_communities>," B'Tselem, 22 
October 2013).

In other areas of the Jordan Valley, communities have been uprooted so 
that Israel's military can build training areas known as "firing zones 
<http://electronicintifada.net/tags/firing-zones>."

In the unlikely event of a US-brokered two-state solution 
<http://electronicintifada.net/tags/two-state-solution> between Israel 
and the Palestinian Authority 
<http://electronicintifada.net/tags/palestinian-authority>, Israeli 
officials have repeatedly insisted that the Jordan Valley will remain 
under Israeli control.

In late December, an Israeli ministerial committee voted in favor of a 
bill to annex the Jordan Valley 
<http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/31/israeli-government-jordan-valley-john-kerry-visit>.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum 
<http://electronicintifada.net/tags/world-economic-forum> in Davos 
<http://electronicintifada.net/tags/davos>, Switzerland, last month 
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu 
<http://electronicintifada.net/tags/benjamin-netanyahu> stated that he 
did "not intend to remove a single settlement" ("Israeli official: 
Palestine should allow settlers 
<http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4481333,00.html>," /Ynet/, 26 
January 2014).

Under the US Secretary of State John Kerry's 
<http://electronicintifada.net/tags/john-kerry> proposed plans for the 
future of the valley, the area would be gradually transferred from 
Israeli control to that of the Palestinian Authority over an unspecified 
period of time. The area would be patrolled by Israeli drones 
<http://electronicintifada.net/tags/drones>, according to right-wing 
Israeli media reports ("Netanyahu: I will not evict Israelis from the 
Jordan Valley 
<http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/176691#.Uu-1UPldWSp>," 
/Arutz Sheva/, 24 January 2014).

The current negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, 
Diana Alzeer added, "are aiming to establish a Palestinian state that is 
completely disfigured and that will exclude the Jordan Valley ... and 
this is something that we completely refuse."


    "We will never give up"

Mustafa Barghouti echoed these sentiments. Protesters, he said, had 
gathered to resurrect "this village to send a message to the Israelis 
and the world that we will never give up the Jordan Valley."

Barghouti added that "change can happen only by changing the balance of 
power through popular resistance 
<http://electronicintifada.net/tags/popular-resistance> --- acts like 
this one --- and through boycott, divestment and sanctions 
<http://electronicintifada.net/tags/bds> campaigns worldwide," referring 
to the growing international campaign that calls for an economic, 
cultural and academic boycott of Israel until it complies with 
international law.

Following Ein Hijleh, activists erected another protest village in the 
northern Jordan Valley. The Israeli military wasted little time before 
moving in and destroying it ("Israeli forces storm Jordan Valley protest 
camp <http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=670259>," Ma'an 
News Agency, 4 April 2014).

These most recent protest villages are only the latest in a lengthy 
series of Palestinian direct actions against Israel's policies of 
expropriating Palestinian land for settlements and military installations.

In January 2013, hundreds of Palestinians declared the protest village 
of Bab al-Shams <http://electronicintifada.net/tags/bab-al-shams> in the 
so-called E-1 <http://electronicintifada.net/tags/e-1> area between 
Jerusalem and Maale Adumim 
<http://electronicintifada.net/tags/maale-adumim>, an Israeli settlement 
deep inside the West Bank. Israeli military forces swarmed the 
encampment in the dead of night, evicting everyone. Many of the 
protesters were beaten and arrested.

More than half a dozen similar protest villages sprung up across the 
West Bank 
<http://electronicintifada.net/content/protest-tents-spring-across-west-bank/12367> 
during the following months. They were all destroyed by Israeli forces.

"This is about rebuilding the spirit of popular resistance in 
Palestine," Barghouti said.

/Patrick O. Strickland is an independent journalist and frequent 
contributor to The Electronic Intifada. His writing can be found at 
www.patrickostrickland.com <http://patrickostrickland.wordpress.com/>. 
Follow him on Twitter: @P_/Strickland/ 
<https://twitter.com/P_Strickland_>/_.

-- 
Freedom Archives 522 Valencia Street San Francisco, CA 94110 415 
863.9977 www.freedomarchives.org
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