First-Hand Reports

Land Day in Beitunia

By Perla and Gabriel
International Solidarity Movement
March 30, 2004

For the past ten days bulldozers have been working in Beitunia, a town of 20,000 people four kilometers southwest of Ramallah. The path of the Apartheid Wall will confiscate 17,000 dunums (four dunums equal one acre): 2,000 dunums will be used for the construction of the Wall itself while 15,000 dunums will fall on the other side of the Wall. This stolen land consists of olive grooves, wheat fields and grape vines. The town will be left with 9,000 dunums, which represent the built-up area of the city. Beitunia is being robbed of the entirety of its agricultural land. In the past Beitunia lost about 1,000 dunums to a military outpost, 2,000 dunums to the settlement of Givat Zeev, and another 3,000 dunums to bypass roads – roads that the Palestinians are not allowed to drive on.

Beitunia decided to hold a demonstration today, Palestinian Land Day, at noon to protest against the theft of their land and to stop the on-going Wall construction in the community. About 150 Palestinians joined by 20 international and Israeli activists marched through town to the construction site. The bulldozers were not working but soldiers were present guarding the equipment. The protesters walked up a hill towards the soldiers. After some initial rubber bullet shots and stone throwing, the protesters reached the soldiers guarding the bulldozers. At this time more Israeli military jeeps arrived bringing the total number of soldiers to approximately 25. A peaceful sit-in ensued with demonstrators chanting songs and waving Palestinian flags. After 30 minutes the organizers decided to walk back to the village. An Israeli military jeep began to follow the demonstrators; several Israeli activists stood in front of it, but the jeep continued to drive forward almost pinning down the activists. One Israeli activist was pushed upon the hood of the jeep as it sped down and up the hill. As he got off the jeep, the demonstrators attempted to verbally engage the Israeli soldiers. However, this attempt led to several physical confrontations between the demonstrators and soldiers, who responded with sound bombs and rubber-coated steel bullets to disperse the crowd. As the demonstrators retreated, roughly a dozen soldiers charged after them aiming their weapons and firing dozens of rounds. When the protesters dispersed to the next hill on the edge of town, the soldiers fired tear gas canisters from their weapons and continued shooting up the hill.

Six people were injured by rubber-coated steel bullets including one international medical volunteer with the Union of Palestinian Medical Relief Committees (UPMRC) and several were treated for tear gas inhalation.

The residents of Beitunia were out today peacefully defending their land, and they were met by violent escalation on the part of the Israeli military. At no point during the demonstration was the safety of the soldiers or the military equipment threatened. The people of Beitunia were simply protesting for the right to be on the land they rightfully own and cultivate. Ghali, the owner of a clothing store, said that it was “a good demonstration, and that Beitunia will continue its struggle against the Wall.”

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