Weekly peaceful Protests of the wall continue in Al Khader

Friday July 18, 2008 18:12 by Doris Norrito - IMEMC News

Close to a hundred Palestinians from the village of Al Khader located near the southern West Bank city of Bethlehem were joined by International peace activists for the weekly prayer and march in protest of the illegal wall Israel is building on village land.

non-violent protesters behind barbed wire

Participants were led in prayer and reminded of the history of the region and the importance of the land for the Palestinian people.

"For generation after generation we have been connected to this land,” the leader said, “and we’ll stay here and march together.

Samer Jaber, spokesman for the activists said the protesters meet each week at a distance of eleven kilometers from the Green Line, a dividing point established in 1949, that separates Israel from Palestine.

As organizers from popular committees for land defense began to march, Israeli soldiers left their truck which had been stationed a few meters from the assembled group.

The soldiers stretched a barrier of coiled barbed wire across the road. “If you cross that barrier,” I will shoot you,” one soldier said.

The construction of the segregation wall stands in violation of article 147of the Fourth Geneva Convention that prohibits destruction and expropriation of properties located in occupied territories not justified by military necessity.

The International Court of Justice at the Hague deemed the Israeli wall illegal in 2004. The protesters left peacefully following the demonstration.

For IMEMC, from occupied Bethlehem, this report was brought to you by Doris Norrito

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