Israeli army bulldozes trees in a village near Bethlehem

Israeli army bulldozes trees in a village near Bethlehem
Ghassan Bannoura - IMEMC News - August 15, 2007
Israeli army bulldozers started to bulldoze trees in a forest located near Al Walaja west of Bethlehem city in the southern part of the West Bank on Wednesday morning.

Witnesses said that the attacked forest consists of 2200 trees and belongs to Cremisan Catholic convent and winery. The Israeli army plans to build a section of the illegal Wall there.

If this section of the Wall will be completed the Bethlehem district will lose all its lands in addition Al Walaja and nearby villages will be cut off from the village and will be totally isolated because of the Wall.
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Israeli forces demolish thousands of forest trees owned by Cremisan Monastery
Ma'an News, Bethlehem, 15 / 08 / 2007
The Israeli forces on Wednesday began to raze hundreds of forest trees belonging to the Cremisan monastery near Beit Jala, in the southern occupied Palestinian West Bank.

Ma'an's correspondent stated that workers have begun demolishing trees under the supervision of Israeli soldiers.

The area to be destroyed includes around 2,150 forest trees, some of which are over 200 years old.

The trees are being razed in order to erect the illegal separation wall, which is located near the border of Jerusalem.

The Cremisan Monastery was founded in 1883 on the ruins of a seventh century Byzantine monastery. It is well-known for producing Cremisan Wine from local grapes.

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Bethlehem: Rebuilding Homes in Al Walaja
ISM Report - July 16th, 2007
Starting on monday July 9th, 2007, ISM volunteers joined skilled Palestinian workers and international volunteers from EAPPI (Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel) and Holy Land Trust, in coordination with ICAHD (Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions) in rebuilding a house in Al Walaja vilage that had been demolished by the Israeli Occupation Forces.

Al Walaja Village is now located 8 kilometers west of Bethlehem, and has 65 houses and one mosque slated for demolition, though the location of the village has changed over the years according to the whim of Israel. When the Israeli State formed in 1948 the village was moved from the Jerusalem hills (where it had been located for more than a hundred years) to a nearby location reduced from its original size by 90%. By 1967 half of the village had left, half remained.

State harassment continued; in the 1970s, Israel limited building permits for Al Walaja villagers. In 1981 Israel issued orders to annex the village into the Jerusalem municipality, to become Israeli public land, but did not provide services or rights to the people living there that were normally accorded to Jerusalem residents; villagers received orange ID cards instead of blue as a tactic to drive them away.

This has taken its toll. Villagers now must be over 40 to obtain a work permit as a laborer in Israel, unemployment is high and many people leave to the UAE to find work. Those that stay are faced with a landscape increasingly surrounded by settlements, of which Har Gilo is the closest. The Israeli government has planned to build the apartheid wall entirely around Al Walaja, so that it is surrounded, with one entrance. A village of 2000 people surrounded by a wall and illegal settlements, with little chance to work, and houses slated for demolition. It is not a pretty picture.

When volunteers from ISM joined the building of the house of Monder and Seham Salem, what struck us was their brave face of resistance in front of all this repression, but what also struck us was their story. Their house, the house they built with their own money, was first demolished in January of 2006, they were told they didn’t have a permit. After having their house demolished without any warning they were forced to live in a tent in the winter for two months. They rebuilt their house after this with money pooled from the local villagers, and tried to get a permit, but after it was built it was demolished again in December 2006 because they were told the apartheid wall was due to cross their property. Again, they were not given any warning.

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Feast of the Tree
Toine van Teeffelen : January 31, 2005
Now we hear that on the western side of Bethlehem, at the edge of Beit Jala, the Wall is going to arise in the Cremisan convent's fields.

The Cremisan fields are full of trees, a significant part likely being cut off to make place for the military road alongside the barrier. The theology students at the Salesian seminary there may have to continue their studies in Jerusalem as the seminary will become increasingly inaccessible, so we hear. And let us not forget the tens of thousands of other Palestinian trees annually cut down for whatever purpose, such as the expansion of settlements or the construction of bypass roads.

Together with dozens of other Bethlehem and Beit Sahouri families, Mary's uncle has for some years been unable to reach his olive trees on the other side of the Wall or the barbed wire that separates Jerusalem from Bethlehem. Consider how he lost his trees, which used to be part of traditional Bethlehem lands.

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Living in a Cage
ARIJ - January 17, 2004
According to the latest Israeli plan, which was published on the Internet at the Israeli Ministry of Defense Website; the village of Al-Walaja, will be totally isolated in a completely disconnected canton.

Cremisan road mentioned earlier is an alternative road which goes through the Cremisan convent (Salesian Seminary) private property was always used by Al-Walaja inhabitants as an alternative road to go to Bethlehem. The road was refurbished and asphalted recently through the help of the United States government to the Palestinian People and the project was funded by the USAID in order to provide access to the village and facilitate the movement for the villagers to reach Bethlehem.

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Olive Branch from Jerusalem
Issue No. 159 - Saturday, 15 June 2002
The Patriarch ordained at the end of last month three priests and four deacons for the Salesian Seminary of Cremisan, the ordination took place in St Peter in Gallicantu Church.