| Five Arrested as Construction of the Wall Disrupted in alWalaja Four Palestinians and a Canadian solidarity activist were arrested in the in the village of alWalaja south of Jerusalem after protesters blocked bulldozers clearing path for Israel's wall. Six were injured A few dozen people - Palestinians, Israelis and internationals managed to reach the construction site of the Wall in alWalaja, and despite heightened presence of Israeli forces succeeded in blocking the bulldozers. The protesters, who remained completely nonviolent, were assaulted with billy clubs in an attempt to remove them from their lands and allow construction to resume. Five demonstrators, four Palestinians and a Canadian, were violently arrested by Israeli Border Police officers, who used large amounts of pepper-spray in their apprehension. One of the arrestees, whose house is adjacent to the construction site, was arrested after the demonstration had already finished when he was posting Palestinian flags on the path of the wall, near his house. Six demonstrators were injured as a result of Border Police baton charges, including an Israeli photographer who was evacuated to the hospital after receiving a blow to the head. Al-Walaja is an agrarian village of about 2000 people, located south of Jerusalem and West of Bethlehem. Following the 1967 Occupation of the West Bank and the redrawing of the Jerusalem municipal boundaries, roughly half the village was annexed by Israel and included in the ... |
