Mazin Qumsiyeh arrested

Al Walaja: IDF disrupt nonviolent march


Editor Palestine Monitor

15 May 2011

Prominent political analyst, author and professor, Dr. Mazin Qumsiyeh was arrested along with two other Palestinians as they protested in the village of Al Walaja, near Bethlehem, on 15 May 2011. According to Dr. Qumsiyeh’s press release, the three were arrested while participating in a non-violent march of civil disobedience towards the Green Line.

As of six o’clock on Sunday night, Dr. Qumsiyeh was still in detention at the Israeli military compound close to Rachel’s Tomb.

According to reports, Israeli forces bombarded the protest in Al Walaja with tear gas, forcing protesters to find refuge in the village’s houses. Five more were arrested after IDF soliders raided homes. According to the press release, three Palestinians, one Irish and another international were arrested from homes.

The original village of Al Walaja was expelled in 1948 and gradually resettled across the valley, near Beit Jala in the Bethlehem district. The march today planned to march from the newly settled Al Walaja to the village’s original lands, which is now forested with a nature reserve.  http://www.palestinemonitor.org/spip/spip.php?article1812


Qumsiyeh wrote: Sunday will be a significant day around the world as we not only commemorate but this time ACT to end the Nakba that started 63 years ago. You can
choose to wait it out or you can go out in the streets and be the change you want to see in this world. I personally will be in Al-Walaja in the Bethlehem district where we gather at 10 AM AT Ain Jweiza mosque and march at 11 AM from the part of Al-Walaja occupied in 1967 to the part occupied and ethnically cleansed in 1948. Others will be in Qalandia Checkpoint (11 AM) and then Ofer Checkpoint (at 2 PM) near Ramallah. Thousands will march on the Lebanese-Palestinian border from both sides.

Same for Egypt and Jordan. Thousands will be in cities around the world marching on Israeli embassies and consulates (usually around noon to 2 PM). 63 years of ethnic cleansing meant that most of our people are refugees or displaced people
(over 7 million) and that we comprise the largest remaining refugee population on earth. 30% of the world refugees are Palestinians. Enough is enough. Thousands have already demonstrated in Egyptian cities and in cities around the world on Friday and Saturday. But it is also not enough to have rallies and speeches.

Civil bedience/civil resistance and other methods (e.g. boycotts, divestments, and sanctions) must be expanded. In Jerusalem, young Milad Said Ayash (17 years old) was murdered by the apartheid regime as the first martyr of the Return uprising. Silence remains as complicity.
Here is what awaits in Palestine: The Beauty of Palestine
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtzXPcQu41g

Al-Walaja story
Part 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcodiFkotgk

Part 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBeztx5Lcv8

Part 3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mramhyCQlI







Mazin Qumsiyeh, PhD



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