Saturday, June 09, 2012
In the last few days different actions have taken place in the village of Tuqu', south of Bethlehem. The village is threaten by the expansion of Teqoa and Noqedim illegal settlements and their connected civilian outposts . On Saturday 24th May, Palestinian farmers, Israeli and international activists reached the farmland of the village that they have been not allowed to cultivate for more than five years due to their vicinity to Teqoa D outpost. They worked the land and took care
of the olive trees and as they came closer to the outpost, a number of the settlers approached and were joined by the army, who prevented them from working. Soldiers declared the area a 'closed military zone' in order to ensure that the farmers and activists could not come close to the illegal settlement but also the private Palestinian land, but did not try to remove the settlers from private Palestinian land.
A few days later, settlers put an Israeli flag on the roof of a Palestinian house located in the farmland, whose inhabitants abandoned it due to their close proximity to the settlement and exposure to settlers' attack. The day after, the villagers together with Israeli and international activists marched to the house in order to remove the flag and found that settlers had removed it just before their arrival, so they replaced it with a Palestinian one. A small group of farmers and activists walked to the area bordered by the outpost of Teqoa D and was once again approached by settlers and by the army. As the tension arose, three Israeli activists were brutally arrested and one of them reported a hand injury. Soldiers unsuccessfully tried to arrest three Palestinians, injuring two of them, while a settler hit a elderly farmer in his stomach. The area was again proclaimed a closed military zone, so activists and farmers were chased away.
The following day, settlers organized a march on the paved road that links the eastern part of the settlement of Teqoa with Teqoa B, C and D, which encroaches on Palestinian private farmland.
On the 1st of June, the farmers returned to their land, finding that the army was positioned not far from the Palestinian house. The villagers managed to work the land around the building but were prevented from reaching the eastern part of the lands by Israeli soldiers, who threw sound bombs toward them. Villagers said they will not desist from claiming and working on their land and will return for similar actions
