68. Photo Essay - International Politicians join in the Protest in Jayyous
International Politicians join in the Protest in Jayyous
International politicians and others from the international community arrived in Jayyous January 4th to join in a protest against the “destruction of village land.” The village, located in the northern West Bank near Qalqiliya, is involved in a struggle against the illegal Israeli settlement of Zufim to try and keep land that has been separated from it by Israel’s “Separation Barrier.” Gretta Duisenberg, Chairwoman of Stop the Occupation in the Netherlands called the Wall an “apartheid wall,” since “it separates Palestinians from Palestinians. Duisenberg, who is the wife of Wim Duisenberg, former chairman of the European Central Bank, said that Israel must go back to the 1967 borders. Luisa Morgantini, an Italian member of the European Parliament, called the “Separation Wall” a “colonial wall.” Mustafa Almalki, the governor of the Qalqiliya Governate, said, “We will never leave, even if we have to eat grass.” He also said that the Wall would fall as the Berlin Wall did in 1989. Israeli soldiers later refused to allow the politicians and guests to cross the gate in the fence in order to reach the Jayyous farmland on the other side. Duisenberg and Morgantini therefore planted olive trees on the eastern side of the fence.
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Ecumenical Accompanier Andy Hall from Britain surveying the situation at one of the gates in the "Separation Fence" in Jayyous.
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Farmer Abu Azzam of the Land Defense Committee in Jayyous welcomes the international guests to the village.
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Gretta Duisenberg, Chairwoman of "Stop the Occupation" in the Netherlands, is denied access through the "Separation Fence" by Israeli soldiers.
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Gretta Duisenberg, Chairwoman of "Stop the Occupation" in the Netherlands, plants a new olive tree in Jayyous.
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Ecumenical Accompanier Christoph Gocke from Germany describes the first day of uprooting of the olive grove in early December for the gathering.
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Ecumenical Accompaniers based in Jayyous: Helle Preisler from Denmark, Andy Hall from Britain, and Christoph Gocke from Germany (l. to r.)
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Jamil Salim, one of the two owners of the olive grove, which was uprooted last month.
