(c) Anne Paq/ www.tourbillonphoto.com
Bethlehem, 1 Septembre 2006.
Organisation d'un picnique en soutien a Khalil, un restaurateur palestinien dont le restaurant, qui se situe juste a coté de la tombe de Rachel à Bethlehem, est completement entouré par le Mur. Nous avions l'intention d'aller manger dans son restaurant mais le jour precedent notre venue; l'armée israelienne ont completement fermé l'accés à son restaurant en mettant une enorme porte metallique là ou on pouvait encore passer. Le matin meme Khalil a été bousculé; insulté et poussé dehors par les soldats israeliens. Apres negociations, nous avons obtenu qu'il puisse aller chercher la nourriture qu"il avait preparé pour nous et nous avons picniquer a l'ombre du Mur. Chacun a donné une contribution financiere afin de soutenir Khalil qui avec courage continue a ouvrir et essayer de se rendre dans son restaurant.
Selon le Maire de Bethlehem; Israel est en train d'annexer illegalement 14% de Bethlehem, particulierement autour de la tombe de Rachel...et je me demande: mais ou sont les chretiens ?
(voir aussi les articles et blogs precedents et suivants).
ENGLISH
Organization of a meal in solidarity with Khalil; a Palestinian whose restaurant is now totamlly surrounded by the Wall. The restaurant is located close to Rachel's tomb. We wanted to support him bgy going to his restaurant. However the day before the scheduled visit the Israelis totally closed the access to the restaurant by putting a big metallic gate. We tried to go but we were prevented by the soldiers. We negociate so that Khalil could go and take the food out for us. We then had a picnic just next to the Wall and each of us gavce a financial contribution to Khalil to suppprt him. Since months he has continued to open his restaurant despite the lack of customers and pressures from the soldiers and the Wall.
According to the mayor of Bethlehem; Israel has illegally annexed 14 % of Bethelehem 's lands and I am wondering: where are the Christians?
See also texts, articles below, the reaction of the director of Al Rowwad theater and pictures in previous posts.
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Protest held in solidarity with a Bethlehem resident who lost his shop to the Israeli Wall
Saed Bannoura - IMEMC - Friday, 01 September 2006, 22:08
Friday, a group of Palestinian residents of Bethlehem and international peace activists held a solidarity act in the city in support of a poor resident who lost his small shop for the construction of the Israeli Annexation Wall. The shop was the only source of livelihood for the man and his family.
As the army continued the construction of the Wall, the area around the man's shop was annexed and isolated because his shop is close to the already walled Rachel Tomb, which is frequently visited by religious Jews.
Troops installed a gate and closed the uncompleted section of the Wall, the owner of the shop and his costumers used to cross through the gate to reach the shop, but recently soldiers attacked him and forced him to leave the area.
The purpose of Friday's protest was to enable as many residents and internationals to be able to reach the shop and by their food from there as a means to support the man and to enable him keep his store opened.
Soldiers stationed in the area barred the residents and internationals from reaching the shop but agreed after negotiations that the man enters the area alone, go to his shop and bring the food out to the protesters.
The Annexation Wall Israel is construction in the occupied West Bank is being constructed in a way that enables settlement expansion, annexes as thousands of Dunams of Palestinian orchards and bars the framers from reaching the remaining isolated o
Text fromAbdelFattah Abu-Srour, PhD
Director of Al-Rowwad Cultural and Theatre Training Center
In the complete silence, except that of the Bulldozers and the Cranes
The Israeli democratic state without any legal authority, and without democracy
Take about 14% of the surface area of Bethlehem Governorate
and annexe them to the Occupying State of Israel. A whole area of houses, shops, industries and main entrance of the city of Christ... It is now permitted land to Israeli religious fanatics and to all Israelis in fact since this Palestinain area is now considered part of Israel.
Teh wall around Aida, surrounding the northern part of Bethlehem and the whole eastern and northern and partly western sides of Aida camp is now complete.
The atmosphere is suffocating
and the Horizon is burried behind a 9 meters high wall
and Silence is Gold
All of you, or most of you want to be rich
Enjoy your richness
in the Baths of injustce
wherever you go, whatever you do
Don't ever forget that you probably had a chance to make a change in your life
Be that change and do not say what can I do...
Shout it loud and high, to you family as well as your representatives
to your children as well as your students
Injustce is one face... as well as justice...
there isn't 200 hundred faces for human rights... there isn't 200 faces for the values of the humanity
but there are thousands of faces for the occupation and humiliation of a whole nation...
Do not be part of it
Help us keep faith and hope that humanity is not doomed forever in the darkness of lost causes.
love you all as much as I love Justice and freedom and hope and peace
"Make injustice Visible" Ghandi
--
AbdelFattah Abu-Srour, PhD
Director of Al-Rowwad Cultural and Theatre Training Center
Israel formally annexes 14% of northern Bethlehem
Palestine News Network - Saturday, 02 September 2006, 05:34
Israel has both effectively and officially overtaken northern Bethlehem, swallowing the entire Rachel’s Tomb area. The process was slow enough, ongoing for the past two years, however it all occurred with very little fuss. Those that did protest were gassed, shot at, imprisoned, or ignored.
Now historic Bethlehem is entirely cut off from its twin city Jerusalem by a kilometer stretch of the Wall. Hundreds of shops, factories, cultural institutions, religious and social centers, and residential homes were either confiscated or annexed to Jerusalem and under complete Israeli control.
Although Rachel’s Tomb has been a military installation for years, it looks quite different now surrounded by the Wall and higher sniper towers. The Israeli government confiscated what was once northern Bethlehem and is converting it into a militarized Jewish enclave like any settlement in the West Bank.
An official Israeli spokesperson announced Friday that control of the region has been transferred from army control into the custody of border guards and police overseen by the Israeli controlled Jerusalem Municipality. This indicates that the confiscation is complete. Israelis no longer need obtain permits from their government in order to travel into the West Bank if they want to go to Rachel’s Tomb.
Northern Bethlehem is no longer in the West Bank according to the Israeli announcement and the new facts on the ground. Northern Bethlehem is not even in Bethlehem. It is now in Israel where Jerusalem is, the future capital of the Palestinian state.
Bethlehem’s Mayor, Dr. Victor Batarsa denounced the Israeli actions as contravening international law and any sense of justice. There is no logic in the international silence in a world that refers to itself as “free,” yet stands by and watches without a word. The Israeli government just confiscated 14 percent of the birthplace of Christ.
Dr. Batarsa explained that the Bethlehem Municipality sent formal protests to foreign consuls in the region alerting them to the Israeli unilateral steps that converted the city of Bethlehem into a closed canton, confined and surrounded all sides.
Fourteen percent of the historic city was confiscated for the sole benefit of the occupying Israeli state. This damages all Christians, the Mayor continued. We have all been raped, including the Vatican, the Pope, Arab states, and all the mayors and their cities worldwide that are sister cities with Bethlehem. He stressed that once again a major obstacle is thrown in the face of the so-called peace process.
Hassan Abed Rabbo of the Factional Coordinating Committee maintains that the Israeli procedures in overtaking northern Bethlehem were done in relative silence. The Wall takes a chunk, the new “border crossing” checkpoint takes another, the soldiers and settlers occupying even more space. All of it was done under the auspices of “security,” and northern Bethlehem has become southern Jerusalem, according to the Israeli government. And it has already overtaken Jerusalem.
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