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Israeli army forcibly evicts nonviolent demonstrators at the Dead Sea

Popular Struggle Coordination Committee / All That’s Left: Anti-Occupation
Collective

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - 28 September 2019

Demonstrators demand water rights and justice, one Palestinian activist
detained.

Dead Sea, West Bank - Today, over 100 activists came together at the
northern banks of the Dead Sea to reclaim
Palestinian rights to land and its natural resources amidst the deepening
Israeli occupation of the West Bank. After
decades of apartheid and colonialization, and amidst the ongoing threats of
full annexation, the demonstration
was led by Palestinian activists from across the West Bank and included
Israeli and international human rights
defenders.

The activists arrived at 10:30am at the site of a former Dead Sea hotel and
restaurant, near the illegal Israeli settlements of Kalya and Almog, with
signs calling for a reclamation of Palestinian sovereignty over its land and
resources. According to a statement released by the Popular Struggle
Coordination Committee (PSCC), the activists came together to protest “being
deprived of our rights to our land, water and natural resources as a
colonized people.”

Joined by Israeli and international solidarity activists, the PSCC “aims to
reclaim Palestinian access to water for basic drinking needs, agriculture
and livelihoods, and recreation, in the face of colonization.” In response
to this non-violent demonstration, dozens of Israeli soldiers forcibly
evicted the activists, arrest attempts were made, and one Palestinian
activist was detained. Even after eviction, the Israeli army set up
checkpoints along the road, to ID Palestinian demonstrators as they left the
site.

For decades, Israel’s illegal settlement regime has exploited Palestinian
natural resources and threatens the right of the Palestinian people to basic
water needs. While the World Health Organization recommends 100 liters of
water per person per day, Palestinians receive an average of 80 liters /day,
while Israelis, including in settlements, receive an average of 280
liters/day.
As today’s use of force demonstrates, Israel’s concerted efforts to maintain
its control over Palestinian land and its natural resources comes at the
expense of Palestinian rights to development, health, and adequate standards
of living.

Thus far in 2019, Israel has demolished water related infrastructure across
the West Bank and continues to deny Palestinians the right to repair
existing water networks, dig wells, or carry out any work to achieve basic
water access. Over 60 Palestinian springs have been taken over by Israeli
settlements, and Palestinians have no access or legal allocations to the
Jordan River or the Dead Sea. These bans are compounded with the on-going
illegal policy of land confiscation, settlement expansion, property
demolition, and wall construction.

The PSCC further notes that “the systematic restrictions on our access to
our own land, natural resources and water, including the Dead Sea and the
Jordan River, has dealt a heavy blow to the agriculture sector, which is one
of the main pillars of Palestinian economy and heritage.”

As youth from over 200 nations led a strike this month, demanding urgent
actions on climate change, today’s demonstrators called on global leaders to
join the Palestinian struggle for water justice, as communities lacking
the basic access to land and water security are more vulnerable to the
effects on climate change in the region.

In this context, the action demonstrated a Palestinian reclamation of water
resources to not only meet basic needs for drinking, agriculture, and
livelihoods, but also for rights to this critical resource for generations
to come.

The PSCC also drew attention to the environmental concerns of Israel’s water
policies, noting that “when Israel denies us access to our water resources
in the Jordan Valley, it effects not only the Palestinian livelihood, but
also has detrimental effects on the environment, as the Dead Sea is
shrinking by 1 meter/year.”

Joining Palestinian activists from across the region were Israeli and
international activists who are supporting Palestinian efforts to reclaim
and remain on their lands in recent years.

Sahar Vardi from Jerusalem said, “I am standing here in solidarity with my
Palestinian partners because it is our duty, as Israelis, to resist these
policies of resource theft, which are done in our names. At a time where
Israeli politicians say that they will annex Area C, even further depriving
Palestinians from their lands and resources, and in places like here, at the
Dead Sea, we have no time to waste. It is our responsibility as Israelis to
resist this in our actions and not just with words. It is also the
responsibility of the international community to move from words
to action, and sanction human rights violations and breaches of
international law.”

Dana Mandler, a member of All That’s Left: Anti-Occupation Collective in
Jerusalem said, “We come together because we believe in justice, equality
and freedom for all. Water is a basic right and Palestinians must have that
right - full access and agency over water resources - guaranteed.”

The PSCC concludes its statement by noting that “our resistance represents a
refusal to allow the perpetuation of the reality of the segregation walls,
violence, and discrimination to stand in our way. We will tirelessly
continue to march forward together, rebuilding, where the occupation
destroys, preserving life, where the occupier shatters it, and planting,
where the settler-colonial regime razes and uproots. “

After decades of apartheid and colonialization, the nonviolent demonstration
today was an act of resistance against the threat of annexation, made by
Israeli leaders and its global defenders, by enacting Palestinian
sovereignty over its borders and its environment. Organizers are calling on
those who stand in solidarity around the world to hold decision-makers
responsible, and for those who can, to join the struggle for Palestinian
rights to its land and the water that flows above and beneath its surface,
so that basic needs of its people are met.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
28 September 2019
Media Contacts:
• Muhmoud, Popular Struggle Coordination Committee
+972 (0) 599586004
• Chagit, All That’s Left: Anti-Occupation Collective
+972 (0) 547178958

***********************************************************
Times of Israel report

https://www.timesofisrael.com/palestinians-protest-in-northern-dead-sea-

against-pms-west-bank-annexation-plan/
Palestinians protest in northern Dead Sea against PM’s West Bank annexation
plan Scuffles break out between IDF soldiers and demonstrators; no reports
of arrests
By TOI STAFF
28 September 2019, 6:02 pm 1
35
shares
IDF soldiers and Palestinian protesters at the abandoned Lido structure in
the northern Dead Sea, September 28, 2019 (Screen grab via Channel 12)
IDF soldiers and Palestinian protesters at the abandoned Lido structure in
the northern Dead Sea, September 28, 2019 (Screen grab via Channel 12)
Over a hundred Palestinians gathered at an abandoned hotel in the northern
Dead Sea on Saturday to protest a pre-election promise by Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu to annex the Jordan Valley and northern Dead Sea and
apply Israeli sovereignty there.

The protesters climbed onto the Lido structure, which has largely remained
empty since 1967 and is located south of the West Bank city of Jericho, and
waved Palestinian flags before they were dispersed by Israel Defense Forces
soldiers. There were no reports of arrests, but videos from the scene showed
scuffles between troops and demonstrators.

The Kan public broadcaster reported that protesters were also demonstrating
against house demolitions in the area.

protest-againt-Israeli-annexation-plans-603221

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