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Occupied Palestine: Women And Girls Lead Blocking of Bulldozers in Az Zawiya

Anonyme, Martes, Junio 8, 2004 - 06:52

IWPS

 
An eight-year-old girl stood under the blade of a digger on Monday, as women and children stopped the uprooting of olive trees on Az Zawiya land, in Occupied Palestine, for nearly one hour.

Bulldozers began cutting and uprooting trees on Sunday night and by morning, hundreds of trees had been laid waste. Several hundred villagers gathered in the village at 9:00 a.m. and attempted to march to the land, but were blocked by seven jeeps of soldiers and border police who threw sound grenades and shot rubber bullets, injuring at least one person.

 
International Womens' Peace Service
June 7, 2004

An eight-year-old girl stood under the blade of a digger on Monday, as women and children stopped the uprooting of olive trees on Az Zawiya land for nearly one hour.

Bulldozers began cutting and uprooting trees on Sunday night and by morning, hundreds of trees had been laid waste. Several hundred villagers gathered in the village at 9:00 a.m. and attempted to march to the land, but were blocked by seven jeeps of soldiers and border police who threw sound grenades and shot rubber bullets, injuring at least one person.

A small group of women and girls, accompanied by internationals, made their way around the soldiers and reached the land where bulldozers were working. Though the soldiers attempted to push them back, the women were persistent and small girls sat and stood by the trees meant to be uprooted. After repeatedly threatening to run the women down, the bulldozer drivers finally turned off their engines, but after about forty-five minutes, soldiers threw tear gas and dispersed the group.

Contractors, army and border police were confronted by a group of women and men in a second area. They again used tear gas, sound grenades and fired shots in the air to prevent the group from stopping the work. This group included Israeli activists as well as villagers and internationals, who remained on the land until early afternoon.

The wall will leave the village of Az Zawiya with only 775 dunums, or 90% of their agricultural land. The village will lose access to around 24,000 dunums where they grew olive trees, almond trees, and carried out intensive cultivation of vegetables in greenhouses.

They have already lost land to road expropriations for settler highway no. 5, for settlement building, for military facilities and training grounds.

They will be imprisoned in their village. Az Zawiya is one of 3 neighbouring villages that will be in the same enclave – the other two are Rafat and Deir Ballut. The village of Az Zawiya has requested an ongoing international and Israeli presence to help them prevent the destruction of their community. Plans are being made for a peace camp similar to that held in Mas'ha last year.

Photos and video are available from IWPS and at www.iwps.info.

For more Information contact:
The International Women's Peace Service (IWPS)
Office: 09-2516-644
Mobile: 055 854 988 / 067 870 198

International Womens' Peace Service
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Asunto: 
UPDATE, June 9th
Autor: 
simms
Fecha: 
Mié, 2004-06-09 09:25

this just came through:

ISM/IWPS
Wednesday, June 9, 2004
For Immediate Release

THE RESISTANCE OF AZ-ZAWIYA CONTINUES
Daily anti-wall protests held in Az-Zawiya despite military violence

Az-Zawiya, Salfit, Occupied Palestine - Villagers in Az-Zawiya, accompanied by international and Israeli activists, have planned several actions to protest the destruction of their land and livelihood due to the construction of the Wall in this area.

Tomorrow, Thursday, June 10, 2004, women and men will attempt to stop the work of the bulldozers for the fourth day in a row. The meeting point will be at the mosque at 1pm

On Friday, June 11, 2004, Az-Zawiya community invited the residents of Rafat and Deir Ballut as well as international and Israeli activists to join their prayer on the land. The meeting point will be at the mosque at 10am.

Over the last days, hundreds of farmers participated in demonstrations which were met by severe violence from the Israeli army and border police. These actions were supported by Israeli and international activists despite the army preventing some of the Israeli protesters from reaching the village today.

The residents of Az-Zawiya stand to lose access to around 24,000 dunums where they grew olive trees, almond trees, and carried out intensive cultivation of vegetables in greenhouses. The village has already lost land to road expropriations for settler highway no. 5, settlement building, military facilities and training grounds.

The villagers have vowed to continue their protests until the wall is stopped and to remain steadfast in their nonviolent struggle for the survival of their community.

For more information, please contact:

Kate - IWPS (English):+972.67.387.806
Abu Ladeeb Mayor of Az-Zawiya (Arabic): +972.52.576.344
Francheska - IWPS (Hebrew):+972.50.668.0282
IWPS Office: +972.9.2516.644
ISM Media Office: +972.2.277.4602


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