CPTnet
25 June 2007
BETHLEHEM DISTRICT: CPT delegation joins nonviolent witness against land
confiscation
On Friday 1 June 2007, the Holy Land Trust (HLT) in Bethlehem invited a
Christian Peacemaker Team (CPT) delegation to join in its weekly Friday
nonviolent action. The action took place on land directly beside an Israeli
army base, beneath the Israeli settlement of Efrat, near the Palestinian
village of Umm Salamuna.
The site of the action was an orchard of olive trees and grape vines.
Approximately sixty people participated, including Palestinian farmers, Umm
Salamuna villagers, internationals participating in the HLT summer peace
program, and other groups like the Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in
Palestine Israel (EAPPI) from the World Council of Churches.
The action participants and members of the international press accompanied
the farmers as they walked across the construction site of the future wall
that will cut off their land entirely. Then they continued up a rocky slope
to the orchard.
Organizers told international participants, including CPT, that they could
choose to be involved at various levels of risk, since trespassing on the
property ran the risk of arrest. Some participants chose to observe from
outside of the vineyard, while others joined the Palestinians in harvesting
grape leaves and taking photographs of the action.
At least thirty Israeli soldiers and police, with seven military vehicles,
were present during the action, blocking a road leading towards the
settlement. Many had their guns drawn, but some were idly chatting and
laughing. The Israeli military allowed the owner of the vineyard to cross
the road to visit his land. Previously, soldiers had barred him from
entering this section of his land for five years. The Israeli military
prevented others from joining him, but Palestinians and internationals
chanted his name and clapped to encourage him as he gathered grape leaves.
Some settlers came to the top of the hill above, cursing and yelling at the
farmers in Hebrew. One Israeli peace activist shouted angrily but
insistently in response, calling on the settlers to explain why they should
have the rights to this land. An Israeli soldier made the settlers leave,
but a short time later, they returned to observe at a different point. The
action ended with a rousing speech from the leader of HLT declaring the
action a success. He spoke to the Israeli soldiers, proclaiming that the
Palestinian farmers would never give up the struggle to reclaim their lands.
He chastised them for what he called "their immoral engagement in the
occupation by their participation in land confiscation".
The Israeli government, through the construction of the separation barrier
and the building of illegal settlements on Palestinian land, denies many
farmers access to their crops.
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Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) seeks to enlist the whole church in
organized, nonviolent alternatives to war and places teams of trained
peacemakers in regions of lethal conflict. Originally a violence-reduction
initiative of the historic peace churches (Mennonite, Church of the Brethren
and Quaker), CPT now enjoys support and membership from a wide range of
Christian denominations.
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