May 20th, 2007
On Sunday morning May 20, Israeli Occupation Forces destroyed an apricot and date orchard comprising of 28 trees in the village of Artas near Bethlehem. Four Israeli peace activists were arrested. Video footage is available.
At 5:30 AM, approximately 40 soldiers came and forcibly removed approximately 60 Palestinian, Israeli and international activists who had been maintaining a presence on the land since Wednesday, May 16. Soldiers hit and kicked activists who had chained themselves to trees, including elderly Palestinian women. After the activists had been removed, the army uprooted the trees and bulldozed the land.
The apartheid wall is being built through the village of Artas to allow for the expansion of the Efrata settlement and is confiscating approximately 4000 dunums of land. Two new settlement neighborhoods, Tamar and Dagan are being built on the land and will be attached to Efrata. This expansion goes against international law and the Roadmap for Peace. Sewage from Efrata will be piped out through this former orchard.
Like most settlements, Efrata was started illegally but was later approved by the Israeli supreme court.
The orchard belonged to the Abu Swai family.
For more information:
Arabic: Awad Swai 0598305810
English: Jesus Martinez 0599943157
Hebrew/English/Arabic: Adar 0525444866
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