ISM Press Release 10 July 2003 IDF Prevents Farmers from Accessing Crops Beyond the Apartheid Wall

[Deir Al Ghasoon, Occupied West Bank]

At 9:00 AM today 40 Palestinians and 7 international volunteers attempted to pass through a gate in the Wall of Apartheid to plant crops on their land that lies on the other side. Israeli authorities have repeatedly assured the farmers that they would be allowed through to tend to their land. Despite these assurances, 16 soldiers and 4 Israeli policemen pushed the farmers and the internationals
back through the gate and closed it.

This is the first time that a group of farmers has attempted to obtain access to their fields. Individual farmers have been prevented access in the past.

The soldiers responded to attempts to negotiate passage through the gate by pushing the people back and telling them that they had 5 minutes to vacate the area.

Local press was called but they were stopped by soldiers at a checkpoint and were not allowed to proceed to the area to report on the denial of access of Palestinian farmers to their land.

Deir Al Ghasoon villagers own 3000 dunams of land that lie on the other side of the wall and 500 people depend on harvesting it for their livelihood. This is only one of several villages where the residents have been cut off from their land and wells.

For more information on the Wall of Apartheid see
http://www.palsolidarity.org/index.php?page=wall/wall.htm