Beit Ummar

Before our training was over, we received calls that there was need for Internationals to come out and support farmers and activist fighting for their land. We immediately responded to the call and headed to the community as allies. Others went to another community that has built an outpost defying the apartheid wall and are helping plan the weekly protest action.

On Monday July 3rd, in Beit Ummar, a farming town near Hebron, Palestinian farmers and landowners have been laying down in front of bulldozers tearing up their land in order to expand settlements. This project is part of Israel's land grab policy in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. We learned that an elder's leg was broken by Israeli Occupation Forces and that Musa, a local activist, had risked his life by laying under a bulldozer in order to stop it. Three International activists were detained for hours and released in the middle of the night. That evening a group of us received them, we met with Musa and the popular committee, and decided to confront the bulldozers the next morning and attempt to halt the uprooting of trees and tearing up of farmland.



Today we headed out to the site of the struggle and were greeted by children on the street, on bicycles, standing in stoops, staring curiously, and far less curious adults. Musa led us into the orchards and over a ridge where we were confronted by two pieces of machinery, a bulldozer and a backhoe, and about 15 soldiers.

We wanted to stop the destruction of Palestinian farmland, the machines wanted to destroy Palestine, and the soldiers wanted to stop us.

These young soldiers began to yell, push, and beat us. They directed the majority of their wrath towards Musa because he is Palestinian so we attempted to protect him using our bodies. They grabbed him and hit him causing him to fall and we hugged him and tried to aid him and tell the soldiers he was hurt and there was no reason for such violence.

We are aware that there is a rich history of soldiers killing Palestinians, but they need to be a hell of a lot more careful with Internationals. They pulled us off Musa and beat us but the worse thing was they detained him. He is now in the hands of Shebak or Shin Beit, the Israeli secret police, according to them.

Please read the ISM website for more details and ways to help!

No worries, I am doing fine and will write more when I get the opportunity. There is so much to tell and so much to do, it is difficult to strike a balance. Friends, please read these words and share them and find ways to do something concrete to change the conditions here... Ma'asalama.