RAMALLAH, June 23 (JMCC) - According to
the +972 blog, hundreds of Palestinians, Israelis and internationals turned out Friday to protest the threatened destruction of the West Bank village of Susya, where the Israeli military has ordered 52 dwellings demolished.
The protest, like all demonstrations in the occupied West Bank, was blocked by the military, which fired tear gas and stun grenades. (Some
photos of the demonstration are on the blog here, and others
of Susya are available at Activestills.)
Palestinian and Israeli protestors attempted to walk to the archeological site developed by Israel in Susya, from which the Palestinian residents were originally expelled in 1986 after Israeli archeologists found the remnants of a synagogue. The army quickly announced that it was an illegal protest and demanded we turn back and go home. They used stun grenades and tear gas to disperse the crowds, resulting in one injury. The army also had truck on hand to fire “skunk” water, which they threatened to use but ultimately did not. There were no arrests.
The relatively large turnout of support for the tiny Palestinian village was the result of successful coordination between Palestinian individuals and committees from all over the West Bank, including Ma’asara, Hebron, Beit Jala, Bethlehem and Bil’in. Abdullah Abu Rahmah, leader of the grassroots unarmed Palestinian resistance movement against Israel’s security barrier in Bil’in attended Friday’s protest. Several Israeli anti-occupation activist groups – among them Ta’ayush, Combatants for Peace, Solidarity Sheikh Jarrah and Rabbis for Human Rights - organized six buses from Tel Aviv and Jerusalem bringing some 300 Israeli protestors.