Jayyous, a village near Nablus in the northern West Bank, has become a center for Palestinian resistance to the path of the wall, which confiscates Palestinian land. Weekly demonstrations there have brought crowds and some media attention. Israel raided the village early on Wednesday morning. Two reports.
First, an email from a young Arabic-speaker writing in English, sent to Doug Whitmore, a Christian activist in Kansas City, Mo.:
Dear father:
we are in a very bad sitouation now the Israile army they entered the village last night and they make carfw and they arested alot of people near to 75 person and they still in the village and they say that they want to arested the most of boys and they will enter every house in the village.
greetings.
And here's a report by Mohammad Ethman that we got from a Palestinian friend:
Just after midnight, 25 Jeeps and 75 soldiers on foot entered the village and began conducting house-to-house raids, forcing their way into homes at gunpoint and arresting dozens of youth, including the son of the mayor of Jayyous. The soldiers beat whoever tried to prevent them from breaking into the houses, including at least one elderly woman.
After conducting the raids, the Occupation forces brought a bulldozer into the village to seal off the two entrances to the village with mounds of dirt and stone. They then began shouting in loudspeakers throughout the village that Jayyous had been placed under curfew, and they proceeded to occupy 10 houses, enabling them to control the village from strategic rooftops.
For several weeks now, Jayyous has been the site of intense repression at the hands of Occupation forces, who have not hesitated to enter the village and indiscriminately fire live bullets and tear gas. However, this operation conducted by the soldiers is the most large-scale crackdown to date. On Sunday evening, soldiers entered the village and destroyed a newly-painted mural on the Jayyous municipality building, for no other reason than to harrass and anger the people. The aim of the Occupation forces is to threaten and intimidate the entire village, in order to stop the strong weekly demonstrations that have been held in Jayyous for the past several months.
Despite this repression, however, the people of Jayyous refuse to end their resistance. On Friday, Jayyous will hold its demonstration as usual, and activists from surrounding areas will come to the village as well to join in the protest, making it even larger and stronger than in past weeks.
The people of Jayyous urge you to come to the village today to see the occupied homes, the ongoing intense repression, and the massive military presence. The media is also urged to come to the village on Friday to cover the demonstration, as well as the repression and clashes that are sure to take place.
