Gate of Dignity is Built on Lands of Beit Iksa North of Jerusalem

Israeli army now inside of the village.

Israeli soldier in Bab al-Karama, in Occupied Palestine. Photo: poular-resistance.blogspot.com

(BAB AL-KARAMA, Occupied Palestine) - Palestinians in Beit Iksa overlooking Jerusalem just built a new village they called Bab Al-Karama (Gate of Dignity) on their land behind the apartheid wall that Israel has built across Palestinian land.

They are calling on Palestinians and Internationals to join them in their popular struggle to hold on to their lands.

The wall Israel is building on the village land would leave 96% of the village land inaccessible and behind the segregation wall (see maps on link below from ARIJ).

Over the past 24 hours, the villagers built a mosque and set up 5 tens for dwelling on their land behind the wall. The head of the Beit Iksa village council, Mr. Kamal Hababa, stated that idea of building this village extension is to protect their legally owned lands and to be the second such village built to protect from growing efforts at transforming Arab Jerusalem.

Already the threatened village land behind the wall is 7411 dunums which amounts to half the total threatened lands of the eight Palestinian villages northwest of Jerusalem and 96% of the village land of Beit Iksa.

Colonial Jewish only settlements built on Palestinian lands beyond the Green line in this area include Ramot, Neve Shmuel, Har Shmuel, and Givat Ze’ev.

The army is in the village as of Friday evening.

For more information and to help, contact 0598882226

Additional source:
Israeli Military Orders to extend the confiscation of 1280 dunums for
Completing the construction of the Segregation Wall Northwest of Jerusalem
http://www.poica.org/editor/case_studies/view.php?recordID=4247
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Mazin Qumsiyeh
Palestinian Center For Rapprochement Between People
http://qumsiyeh.org

Mazin Qumsiyeh, PhD - Popular Committee to Defend Ush Ghrab (PCDUG) "A Bedouin in Cyberspace, a villager at home. Mazin has been an Associate Professor of Genetics; Director, Cytogenetics Laboratory at Yale University School of Medicine since 1999. He previously held a similar position at Duke University. Professor Qumsiyeh has authored over 110 scientific papers in areas of mammalogy, biology, and medicine including mammalian biology and evolution, clinical genetics, and cancer research. He has published over 100 letters to the editor and 30 op-ed pieces in International, national, regional and local papers on issues ranging from politics to environmental issues. His appearances in national media included the Washington Post, New York Times, Boston Globe, CNBC, C-Span, and ABC, among others. He is the founder and president of the Holy Land Conservation Foundation and ex-President of the Middle East Genetics Association, and Prof. Qumsiyeh won the Jallow activism award from the Arab American Anti-Discrimination Committee in 1998. He is author of “Sharing the Land of Canaan: Human rights and the Israeli/Palestinian Struggle” and just published “Popular Resistance in Palestine: A history of Hope and Empowerment.” Visit Mazin Qumsiyeh's amazing and informative Website to learn more: qumsiyeh.org.