Villagers March against Sewage Pit.

Last Friday there was another demonstration in the afternoon. Some of our group joined it to make the day a demo 'double-header'.

We walked through the village of Artas which is just a few miles south of Bethlehem. The immediate problem faced by this farming community is that the nearby Israeli settlement has built a large trench at the head of the fertile valley above the village. The Palestinian community believes the huge excavation is going to be used for some type of waste disposal for the nearby Israeli settlement. They are worried about the danger of run-off or seepage from the waste contaminating their downhill farm fields.

We joined the local community to march from the village up to where the excavation is. With an Israeli settlement on the hilltop there is a fence along the hillside and Israeli soldiers at the ready.

At previous demonstrations soldiers have forcibly prevented villagers from reaching the excavated area. But last Friday they just looked on and did not stop the peaceful demonstration. The villagers spirits were high and some of them exuberantly threw dirt and pushed boulders back into the excavation. A dead olive tree was symbolically stuck back in the ground and propped up with rocks.

The group was expressing their frustration and also sending a message: Stop taking our land. No you cannot use our farm land as a sewage dump!

Unfortunately the only witnesses were the participants and the onlooking 20 IDF soldiers.
No matter ... the villagers were exuberant in having a chance to show their opposition to the threatening waste dump. An elderly Palestinian lady who is the owner of the property looked on in support of the protest.