Israeli soldiers arrest two at Umm Salamoneh

Friday June 22, 2007 17:25 by John Smith & Ghassan Bannoura - IMEMC

Around 50 residents of the village of Umm Salamoneh, located to the south of Bethlehem in the West Bank, joined by international and Israeli peace activists, marched on Friday against confiscation of land by Israel for the purposes of the construction of the illegal wall.

Israeli soldiers attack peaceful protestors at Umm Salamoneh

This week, the aim of the demonstration was to plant a number of olive trees on the land planned for confiscation.

As is the case each week, protestors were pushed, kicked and assaulted by the Israeli military, who prevented them from planting any trees on the land.

Sami Awad, the director of the Holy Land Trust organization and one of the protestors at Um Salamoneh today, stated: “As soon as we arrived to the land, soldiers attacked us, assaulted us and denied us access to the land where we planned to plant the trees. The soldiers were very violent.”

A short scuffle took place between Israeli forces and demonstrators, leading to the arrest of two Israeli activists.

Medical sources in Bethlehem reported no injuries at the demonstration.

west bank | non-violent action | news report