Thursday 19 December 2002

PRESS RELEASE

Palestinians and Internationals defy armed security to
keep route through Apartheid Wall open

Armed security guards fired shots over the heads of
Palestinians and volunteers from the International
Solidarity Movement in an attempt to force them from
the newly opened roads to their land. The
internationals refused to move. Eventually five
security guards armed with machine guns, with the 4th
most powerful army in the world in support, were
reduced to verbally pleading with Internationals to
leave the site of the Apartheid Wall.The roadblocks
remained open for the second day with farmers passing
freely across the site of the wall.

Palestinian farmers reported that security around the
wall had been unusually civil, rather than greeting
them with the usual harassment and brutality. They
attributed this sudden change of attitude to the
presence of internationals, which has generally tended
to embarrass Israeli forces into more humane
behaviour.

Yesterday Palestinians assisted by members of the
International Solidarity Movement used bulldozers to
open the roads to their land. The roads had been
closed for weeks by the building of the Israeli
"security fence", dubbed by human rights groups the
Apartheid Wall in reference to the Israeli
government's mimicking of the racist policies of the
South African Apartheid state.

At a meeting of Zeta village council this evening the
council leader, Khaled Al-Sayed Ahmed, made the
following statement to the internationals:
"On behalf of the farmers of Zeta, I can only say
thank you for helping us open the agricultural
entrance to our farming lands. We hope, may Allah help
us, to have peace on this land. Everybody loves peace
and so do we. Our children and the next generations
need peace. We know that you will always help us
because we trust you."

If completed, the wall will effectively separate the
farmers of Zeta, and many other villages and towns,
from their land. As a farming community this means the
loss the livelihood upon which they depend. Few other
options remain for these communities in a land that is
fast being transformed into an open air prison camp by
an illegal military occupation now in its 35th year.

Photo attached: Palestinians and Internationals use
bulldozers to open roadblocks around Apartheid Wall