PALESTINIAN ACTIVISTS ERECT PROTEST TENTS IN SOLIDARITY WITH BEDOUIN

Photo: Ma'an News Agency — **Dozens of activists on Tuesday erected a new protest village in Abu Dis east of Jerusalem in protest of Israel’s plans to displace Bedouin in the E1 corridor.** (Photo: Ma’an)

Bethlehem, 14 Rabi’ul Akhir 1436/4 February 2015 (MINA) – Dozens of activists on Tuesday erected a new protest village in Abu Dis east of Jerusalem in protest of Israel’s plans to displace Bedouin in the E1 corridor, a local official said.

Adel Salah, the head of Abu Dis’ local council, said the tents were erected in protest of Israel’s plans to drive Bedouin of the al-Jahalin tribe from their lands in order to connect the illegal settlement of Maale Adumim to Jerusalem.

Around 250 activists joined in the protest, Ma’an News Agency quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

A local popular committee spokesman, Hani Halabiya, said that Israeli forces raided the village in the afternoon and gave activists an hour to evacuate, threatening to use force.

They declared the area a closed military zone, Halabiya added.

E1 is an area northeast of Jerusalem and west of the illegal Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim. Israeli plans for settlement construction in the area have been strongly opposed by the international community, including the US.

Critics say Israeli settlement construction in E1 would divide the West Bank in two and make the creation of a contiguous Palestinian state — as envisaged by the internationally backed two-state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict — virtually impossible. (T/P010/P3)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)