Al-Walaja, population 2,000 is located just south of Jerusalem and west of Bethlehem. After the 1967 Six Day War, half the town was annexed to Israel and included the Jerusalem municipal area. The citizens though did not receive Israeli citizenship or residency, thus they are considered illegal within their own homes.
The Wall has come to Al-Walaja and when completed it will completely isolate the residents from everyone, including Jerusalem, Bethlehem and their land. Israel has confiscated half of the land planning to utilize it to build Har Gilo and Gilo settlements. Their fruit orchards have been cut down, their homes demolished and the areas to south and west have been closed off. When the wall is complete it will separate 3,200 Dunams (1 dunam = 1000 square metres) of which 3,000 are olive groves, the only recreational forest, a monastery and winery from the town.
The citizens of Al-Walaja, international activists and other human rights organizations have been demonstrating peacefully against this outrage. In one day alone, they stopped the bulldozers from proceeding leading to several arrests. In the end, the IDF successfully managed to drag the protesters out of the way and allowing the construction to proceed.
When is it legal to arrest citizens protecting their land from the construction of an illegal wall on an illegally occupied land? Where are the citizens of Al-Walaja, whose homes have been demolished to go? This barrier wall, allegedly constructed to ensure Israel's security, will cut off these people from the entire world. Who really needs security, the all powerful Israeli armed to the teeth or the citizens of Al-Walaja whose only crime is to peacefully protest the contraction of an illegal wall?
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