Bulldozers return to destroy children’s playground in Beit Jala. Six activists arrested.

11 posts / 0 new

Sat, 2010-04-24 01:58

Cueball

Quote:
Israeli bulldozers today destroyed a garden and children's playground in Beit Jala, and 100 fruit and olive trees in Al Walaja, both in the Bethlehem district, to make way for the continued construction of their illegal apartheid wall. Soldiers present used violent force to remove Palestinian, Israeli and international activists who attempted to prevent the destruction. Two Israelis were arrested immediately, and six internationals were later arrested.

Sat, 2010-04-24 02:25

milo204

The IDF acting in an immoral, terroristic and violent fashion? what else is new.

Also the internationals will surely be ejected by israeli courts as they resurrected that old law about transferring people out of the territories.

Sat, 2010-04-24 11:32

al-Qa'bong

Sat, 2010-04-24 11:42

Cueball

I have to agree Al Q.

Sat, 2010-04-24 13:07

Cueball

I like the way they don't even dismantle the playground equipment so that it can be used.

Sat, 2010-04-24 13:12

skdadl

Yes -- there isn't a lot of craft-consciousness on display there. I wonder why they didn't just throw a bunch of grenades at it?

Sat, 2010-04-24 14:18

skdadl

Beyond words, indeed. I don't know whether people saw it earlier, but there is now a 9-plus-minute video accompanying that story. I need to take a walk after watching it.

Thu, 2012-03-15 10:56

M. Spector M. Spector's picture

Cueball wrote:

Quote:
Israeli bulldozers today destroyed a garden and children's playground in Beit Jala, and 100 fruit and olive trees in [b]Al Walaja[/b]....

<a href="http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/israel-police-expel-harvard-students-from-palestinian-village-1.418696">Haaretz</a> wrote:
Israel Border Police expelled a group of 55 students from Harvard University from a Palestinian village after a confrontation erupted along the separation fence near Jerusalem.

According to Border Police, the confrontation occurred after a bus full of Harvard students who were touring the area began traveling along a route inside the [url=http://972mag.com/supreme-court-ruling-turns-village-into-open-air-priso... of Walaja[/url] which is intended solely for Israeli security vehicles.

“They arrived on a Palestinian bus and traveled along the route of the fence,” said a Border Police spokesperson, calling the incident a “clear transgression.” The spokesperson also stated that none of the students were detained for question, but were forced to leave the area.

Border Police forces detained the tour leader and Walaja resident Shereen al-Araj for questioning. She was taken to a police base in Atarot and was released on bail after an investigation which lasted several hours.

According to al-Araj, the bus was on the way to look at one of the houses that is slated for demolition so that the security fence can be built. Once the bus arrived at the house, the students exited the bus, only to be met by a private security firm employed to protect bulldozers.

“The security guards approached us and said that we could not be there because it was a “closed military zone,” despite the fact that Israel’s High Court established that it is not.”

According to al-Araj, the private security guards called the Border Police, which eventually escorted the bus out of the village, but not before taking the I.D. cards of the Palestinian students on the bus, as well as that of the driver.

The students, who study at the Harvard Kennedy School, were part of a yearly tour to Israel and the West Bank which is put on by the Palestinian Committee.

My son was on that bus.

[url=http://972mag.com/report-bus-load-of-harvard-students-detained-while-vis...

Thu, 2012-03-15 11:00

Unionist

Wow, Spector. Were you in touch with your son while this was going on, or only afterwards?

I know some offspring that should do this tour as well... Can you refer me to the organizers - by PM if you wish?

Thanks so much for this report.

Thu, 2012-03-15 21:43

#10

Ken Burch

Cueball wrote:

Bulldozers return to destroy children’s playground in Beit Jala. Six activists arrested.

Quote:
Israeli bulldozers today destroyed a garden and children's playground in Beit Jala, and 100 fruit and olive trees in Al Walaja, both in the Bethlehem district, to make way for the continued construction of their illegal apartheid wall. Soldiers present used violent force to remove Palestinian, Israeli and international activists who attempted to prevent the destruction. Two Israelis were arrested immediately, and six internationals were later arrested.

That link no longer works properly. It looks like somebody might have hacked the ISM website.

Thu, 2012-03-15 21:58

#11

M. Spector M. Spector's picture

Doesn't look hacked to me. The story was removed for some reason, but there are other stories still on the site about the same town and the same struggle, like [url=http://palsolidarity.org/2010/03/work-day-to-rebuilt-bulldozed-playgroun... one[/url]:

Quote:

11 March 2010: Palestinians, Israelis and Internationals met in Beit Jallah today to rebuild a playground that bulldozers destroyed last week while clearing the path to complete the wall near Bethlehem. 12 people armed only with pick axes and hoes, flattened out the bulldozer tracks and deep holes left from uprooted trees, reset two swing sets, and brought in sand by the bucket for the new playground. Young olive trees were replanted in place of the mature trees that were destroyed during the first days of uprooting last week. The playground is used by many of the neighborhood children, and the family who owns the land welcomes people to enjoy the shade next to their home in the heat of the summer. As people worked in the sun today, army jeeps made rounds on the road above the home, and stood watch from the road on the opposing side of the highway. One jeep came down to the playground, but people continued their work as soldiers took pictures and asked for the Palestinian participants identification cards....