I am back in Jenin. Today is an international day of protest to mark the commencement of the hearings of the International Court of Justice regarding the Wall. Across the Occupied Palestinian Territories, demonstrations are taking place against the Wall. Below is the report from the demonstration in Jenin.
Jenin says "No Apartheid Wall"
Over 1,000 people today demonstrated against the Apartheid Wall in the village of Al Matalah, eastern Jenin. The village is the site of the last uncompleted section of the Wall's first phase in the Jenin area. Villagers were joined by the people of nearby Al Mogaiar and hundreds of protestors from across the Jenin area.
At 12:45 p.m., demonstrators marched on the Wall construction site, situated around 200m from the village. Protestors cleared a razor-wire barrier erected by the Israeli army before continuing to march upon the construction area. A force of at least 20 soldiers was visible to the marchers. Protest organisers decided to stop 50m short of the construction area after the Israeli soldiers stationed there assumed firing positions.
Holding banners in English and Arabic proclaiming "No Apartheid Wall," "Stop Inhumanity Wall" and "Peace Brings Security," protestors remained at the site for 30 minutes expressing their rejection of the Wall and Israel's Occupation. Local men, students and members of the main political parties and organisations in the Jenin area were joined by ISM activists as they faced the soldiers. At least 100 hundred local woman and school children protested from a hillside close by.
At around 1:15 p.m., the demonstration was peacefully concluded. However, as the protestors returned to the village, Israeli soldiers attacked them with several volleys of tear gas canisters following sporadic stone throwing from a small group of young men that had remained at the demonstration site. Fortunately, strong cross winds limited the effect of the gas on a crowd that included elderly people and children.
Along with villages throughout Jenin, Al Matalah and Al Mogaiar have been seriously affected by Wall construction. Around 1250 dunams of land have been destroyed or isolated. Water cisterns have been dynamited and trees uprooted and removed illegally by construction workers. Many more dunams of land are now off limits due to the threats of the Israeli army units patrolling the area. Local farmers have recently been threatened and beaten for working their land and new planted fields bulldozed. More land may be lost as it is expected that the path of the Wall will plunge around 15km into the West Bank just south of Al Matalah.
Today the people of Al Matalah, Al Mogaiar and the rest of Jenin area showed their continued determination to continue their opposition to the Wall that is annexing and destroying their land as well as isolating their communities. The first phase of the Wall is almost complete in Jenin, but local people have declared their intention to continue to challenge the existence of the Wall. They have also declared that they will resist attempts by the Israeli Government to start construction of secondary Wall sections in the west of Jenin.
