Grief for West Bank Town Imprisoned Behind ‘Ring of Steel’
saleh on July 10th, 2006A press release sent to us by a Bristol teacher:
A Bristol teacher, Ed Hill, from Easton, has just received shocking pictures and reports of the suffering of the town he stayed in last autumn in the Occupied West Bank of Palestine. The town, Marda, has now been completely encircled by new security fences built by the Israelis. The only road in and out of the town is through a steel gate, which can be locked shut or guarded by armed soldiers. Ed Hill is publishing the pictures and reports on a new website and is appealing for funds and resources to help the town.
Last November Ed Hill spent two weeks on an Olive Harvest trip in Palestine. The trip was organized by Zaytoun, which is an ethical cooperative, based in Oxford, which imports Palestinian olive oil and other products into the UK. Local contacts were provided by the International Women’s Peace Service IWPS. For two weeks they worked as ‘human shields’ alongside farmers who had been unable to reach their olive groves either because the land was being cut off by construction work on the Separation Wall, or because there was the threat of attack from the Settlers.
In the town of Marda, farmers were losing their fields to the construction of the infamous “Separation Wall” being built between the town and the illegal Israeli settlement of Ariel. Since then, the Israelis have built a second fence, which separates Marda from the main road. The only access in and out of the town is past a steel gate, which can be locked closed and guarded by armed soldiers. At the end of June the gate was locked for more than a day and no vehicles could enter or leave the town. See IWPS Report attached.
During his stay in Marda Ed interviewed local people. People weren’t allowed to go onto the roofs of their houses for fear of snipers from the Israeli settlement. The Israeli army carried out aggressive military patrols through the town, sometimes several times a day or at night. In addition soldiers or settlers might marauder through the town at night firing guns or throwing sound-grenades to intimidate people. Children were unhappy because they were afraid to play out of doors and couldn’t use the tarmac football pitch next to the school. The Mayor reported there was 80% unemployment in the town with many farmers having lost all their land to the building of the settlement, new Settler-only roads, and the Separation Wall. Ed interviewed a young lad of 7 or 8 who had recently been abducted by the army and held for two days and bribed to become an informer. Apparently this happened a frequently.
Ed has been in email contact with people in the town. They’ve asked for computers to set up a Learning & Recreation Centre there. The town is very poor, the local Junior School has just one old computer, and few people have computers of their own at home. A computer center would help the youngsters with their education and will be available to the whole community. Even when the town gets cuts off people can keep in contact with the outside world via the Internet and by using email; this would help hold the community together.
Ed say “The recent Israeli massive attacks on the Gaza strip have been major news item. However, sometimes it’s difficult to relate to issues on such a large scale. To see what is being done to just one town, where I stayed and helped the people only last year, brings home the terrible of injustice of it all. It’s clear the Israelis have a program of ethnic-cleansing throughout the West Bank to remove towns that happen to be too close to their illegal settlements. By gradually strangling the towns with security fences and travel restrictions they hope people will move out. Imagine if this was happening in Bristol? I am determined to do what I can to help Marda and I’m asking the people of Bristol to help.”
Photo Opportunity - Ed Hill is available for a photo-opportunity and interview.
Video footage – Ed has stills and several hours of video footage from Palestine on Mini-DV tape.
CONTACTS
Ed Hill 0117-951-2157 / 07711-214-168 or email edwardhill1@yahoo.co.uk
Photographs of Marda are available at www.BristolComputers4Palestine.co.uk (donations are expected for use of the photographs etc)
