RAMALLAH, January 12, 2013 (WAFA) – Over 250 Palestinian activists who on Friday established a tent village on land to the east of Jerusalem referred to by Israel as E1, where it wants to build a large settlement on, remained steadfast in spite of zero degree weather and an Israeli army order to leave the area, an activist from the group said Saturday.
Palestinian activists and residents of the area erected around 25 tents without obtaining permits from Israel in the newly founded village named Bab al-Shams (Gate of the Sun), which was named after a novel by the Lebanese writer Elias Khoury about Palestinian nostalgia for the land Israel has taken from them.
Despite of an Israeli High Court order preventing eviction for six days, the Israeli army issued two evacuation orders against the organizers of the event stating that the activists have illegally set up the tents and must remove themselves immediately.
E1 is a 12-square kilometer plot home to over 10 Bedouin communities, such as al-Jahalin and al-Sawahreh, and on which stand a number of Palestinian towns and villages such as Abu Dis, Anata, Issawiya and Izzariya. While Israel claims E1 is mostly an empty mountainous area, hundreds of Palestinian Bedouins consider these mountains as their home.
The Israeli government had announced plans to build in the area of E1 adjacent to the illegal settlement of Ma’ale Adumim, which houses over 40,000 Jewish settlers.
The area is considered a vital passage connecting the northern and southern West Bank. International and local parties believe that construction in E1 would kill any hope for an independent Palestinian state.
The decision to construct the settlement in E1 is believed to be an Israeli reaction following the United Nations General Assembly vote in favor of an upgrade in the Palestinian status at the UN.
A statement published on Friday by the Popular Struggle Coordination Committee stated that the village of Bab al-Shams is a response to Israel’s E1 plan to build 4000 illegal housing units on occupied Palestinian land.
“We will not remain silent as settlement expansion and confiscation of our land continues,” the activists said. “Bab al-Shams is the gate to our freedom and steadfastness. Bab al-Shams is our gate to Jerusalem. Bab al-Shams is the gate to our return.”
The committee announced that various discussion groups, educational and artistic presentations, as well as film screenings on the land of this village will be held with an extended invitation for all Palestinians to participate and support the village.
Abdullah Abu Rahmeh, coordinator of the Bil'in Popular Committee Against the Wall, said that this initiative is not just a minor protest but a real attempt to establish a permanent Palestinian village in which Palestinians are welcome to live alongside the area’s Bedouin community.
He affirmed that the activists will not stop at the establishment of Bab al-Shams, but will move on and establish many other villages to stress the Palestinian people's right to live in their rightful land.
Abu Rahmeh said that after six days, the activists will ask the Israeli court for an extension on the deadline and later a ruling to keep their village. He called on all capable Palestinians to come to Bab al-Shams and “support the activists in their attempt to fight off the Israeli repression.”
Palestinian officials welcomed the initiative and considered it a legitimate and non-violent way to protect Palestinians’ land from Israeli settlement plans.
PLO Executive Committee member Hanan Ashrawi said in a statement that “what is happening at Bab al-Shams is a reminder of the apartheid regime that Israel has imposed for the exclusive use of land for Jewish Israeli settlers all over Palestine.”
M.H./M.S.
