The village of Artas lies in a valley, the settlement of Efrat has been built on the village’s land along with land from neighboring Al-Khadr. Last week the villagers had received word that the Israeli army had its eye on some of the land close to the settlement-colony. Together with Israeli and International activists a constant presence was maintained on the land until last Sunday at 5am the army came to clear the land of its trees. The plan seems to be for sewage pipes to be placed in the Palestinian valley to dispose of the Israeli colony’s waste. If this plan is carried out the entire valley will be polluted and the trees and crops that grow there will die.
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In some ways such an event seems weak and pointless to me. On the upside with the presence of the crowd and the media, the villagers were able to express their opposition to the army’s illegal activities, and yet we were not able to achieve anything substantial. Pictures were taken of a stronger army standing in the way of peaceful and unarmed farmers and supporters from around the world. But then what are they to do as their land is taken from them before their very eyes? Today, we stood powerless before an army, armed to the teeth, only to communicate a message, that this is injustice.
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