ACTIVISTS TEAR DOWN SETTLEMENT GATE SOUTH OF BETHLEHEM

Bethlehem, 24 Rabiul Awwal 1436/15 January 2015 (MINA)– Palestinian activists on Wednesday pulled down the eastern gate of the Efrat settlement south of Bethlehem, a popular committee spokesman said.

Muhammad Muheisen said that the action was a supplementary procedure to “the president’s internationally adopted strategy in Palestine’s right to independence.”

“It is our right to have our country free of settlements,” he added, Ma’an News Agency quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

Since occupying the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem in 1967, Israel has built 125 settlements in addition to 100 outposts, which although not officially recognized receive government funding.

There are over 500,000 settlers in East Jerusalem and the West Bank. (T/P010/R04)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)