8 June 1996

Locals, Israelis, and International Activists

Rebuild Land in Bethlehem

Landowners Take Action Against New Israeli Military Road

Land and Water Establishment

PO Box 20873

Jerusalem

Tel: (972) (2) 812364/824559

Fax: (972) (2) 811072

email: lawe@netvision.net.il

At 3:00 p.m., approximately 400 Palestinians, Israelis and foreigners gathered in Bethlehem to participate in a peaceful reconstruction of land. Organized by the Committee for the Defense of Bethlehem, this successful action pulled over 100 Israelis and foreigners and 300 Palestinians to Bethlehem to repair walls and replant trees which had been destroyed by bulldozers last week. Last week, on 2 June, the Israeli army arrived at 2:30 in the morning and bulldozed a three kilometer path, destroying over 100 ancient olive trees.

The protesters came together in a statement against the military road and in defense of the land in Bethlehem. The road itself is planned to stretch from the settlement of Gilo, west of Bethlehem, cut deep into Bethlehem itself, and end at the forested mountain of Abu Ghneim.

This road runs along the illegally expanded Jerusalem borders, thereby solidifying the illegal Israeli-defined southern border of Jerusalem in advance of the final status negotiations. It has also meant the confiscation of 1500 dunums of land from landowners in Bethlehem, Beit Sahour and Beit Jala, and will cut off 2400 families from Beit Sahour and Bethlehem from their cultivated land near Abu Ghneim.

The residents of Bethlehem, Beit Sahour and Beit Jala hope that this is the beginning of coordinated activity against the Israeli plans for Bethlehem's northern border. Besides the patrol road, which will be the first step towards separation of the West Bank from Jerusalem, the Jerusalem municipality has planned a massive settlement and industrial/tourist complex on confiscated Arab lands to Bethlehem's north. The highly contested Har Homa settlement, to be built on the mountain Abu Ghneim, will be only the nucleus of a vast new development, including an industrial park and tourist infrastructure stretching from the settlements of Gilo to East Talpiot.

Land and Water is a Palestinian non-governmental organization, which seeks to defend human rights through legal advocacy. LAWE is also an affiliate member of the Paris-based International Federation for Human Rights.