Residents of Silwan continue their protest against tunnel under their lands, dug by illegal Israeli settlers

Residents of Silwan continue their protest against tunnel under their lands

Friday February 15, 2008 21:32 by IMEMC Staff saed at imemc dot org

Dozens of residents of Silwan town, near Jerusalem, together with Israeli and international peace activists, continued their protest in the protest tent installed on the land of resident Ahmed Siyam as illegal Israeli settlers continue digging tunnels under their lands and under Wadi Hilwa Street.

The protesters carried posters slamming the digging which is harming their houses and lands and stating the they will continue their protests until the digging stops.

Approximately sixty Israeli peace activists participated in Friday’s protest and marched with the residents from Wadi Hilwa Street to the protest tent and expressed their solidarity with the residents.

Dozens of women from Silwan held a similar protest on Friday.

Member of the Land Defense Committee, Fakhri Abu Diab, stated that in spite that an appeal had been filed to the Israeli High Court to stop the excavations, the settlers continued the digging and the court did not even respond to the petition.

He added that the residents will continue their protests as long as the excavations are being carried out.

“Israel aims at forcing us to leave the area”, he said, “It wants to continue its settlement plans around Jerusalem”.

He added that there are 50 illegal settlement outposts around Jerusalem and inside it, including one at the Magharibah Gate in the Old City.

Resident Omar Qara’een stated that Israel is encouraged by the international silence and by the silence of human rights and legal groups. He added that on Thursday one of the outer squares of the Al-Aqsa Mosque collapsed which proves that Israel is still digging under the mosque and the areas surrounding it. Silwan is the closest neighborhood to the mosque.

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