Early this morning, a group of Palestinian and international nonviolent activists made two attempts to establish a new village in the South Hebron Hills to protest the Netanyahu government’s plans to confiscate Palestinian land in the area. “We are establishing Canaan on our land after our homes and water wells were demolished, and our people displaced,” Yatta popular committee spokesman Ibrahim Rabee told Ma’an News Agency.
According to AFP, the activists gathered at the first site, near a road that serves the settlement of Carmel, were evicted before they could erect any structures. The activists then moved to a second site, near the Palestinian village of al-Tuwani, where they were able to erect at least one tent before Israeli forces arrived. “We began building the tents and were surprised when a large force of the Israeli army began attacking us and destroying tents and hitting us,” Younis Arar, coordinator of the popular committee in the southern West Bank, told Ma’an news. AFP reported the use of water cannon to disperse the activists. According to Haaretz, the water sprayed at the protesters was “foul water”, also known as “skunk water”, which has a putrid smell that can linger on clothing for years.
No one is reported to have been arrested at the first site, but Al Jazeera says six people were arrested at the second site, including two journalists, one of whom is with the AP. A Hebron human rights activist told Al Jazeera, “The Israeli army does not distinguish the journalists from activists, or from the people living there – they just attacked everyone. They were very aggressive today.”
Canaan was the fifth attempt to establish a protest village in the West Bank in as many weeks, and the Israeli army’s response has become more aggressive with each attempt. The world needs to know about these nonviolent acts of resistance, and now is the time to spread the word. Here’s what you can do:
1. If you’re on Twitter, retweet news coming in from #Canaan
2. Share these articles:
- “Israel destroys W Bank protest camp,” Al Jazeera and agencies, February 9, 2013, http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2013/02/20132915611391106.html
- “Israeli forces remove new Palestinian tent village in West Bank,” Haaretz, February 9, 2013, http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/israeli-forces-remove-new-palestinian-tent-village-in-west-bank-1.502430
- “Israel army evicts West Bank protesters,” AFP, February 9, 2013, http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gueX9gHnT2kN6FfW5CztPMBSA5vA?docId=CNG.2e488de1315a6028d1229c42f7894e37.111
- “Activists construct new protest village in south Hebron,” Ma’an News Agency, February 9, 2013, http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=563453
3. Read and share our factsheet on the protest villages and land confiscation:
Get the Facts: Land Confiscation and the Palestinian Protest Villages
https://www.justforeignpolicy.org/babs-factsheet
Thanks for all you do to help raise the profile of Palestinian nonviolent resistance to land confiscation!
Megan Iorio and Robert Naiman
Just Foreign Policy
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