(Qalqilya) Assisted by activists from the International Solidarity Movement, Palestinian farmers from the villages of Zeta and Atil today bulldozed 8 roadblocks erected around the foundations of the new Apartheid Wall which separates them from their farmland. The removal of the roadblocks enabled more than 50 farmers to harvest their crops for the first time in weeks.

Construction of the new wall known as the Security Fence, but dubbed the " Apartheid Wall " by Israeli and Palestinian human rights groups, began earlier this year in the northern West Bank. Instead of following the " green line " , the official border between the Palestinian territories and Israel, the wall will run inside Palestinian territory effectively annexing a further 10% of the West Bank. The 8m high concrete wall, which will be some 350km in length when complete, will leave whole cities such as Qalqylia cut off from the rest of the West Bank and leave villages such as Zeta without the farmland upon which their existence depends. Approximately 900 of Zeta's 2000 dunnums (1 dunnum=1000m2) of land will be destroyed or isolated by the wall.

This is a double blow to the villagers of Zeta. In 1948, the newly formed Israeli state took their land by force. Farmers were then forced to purchase new land from a neighbouring village. Now that land is effectively being annexed by the Israeli government, leaving villagers once more destitute. The land around Zeta is some of the most fertile in the West Bank. Around 60% of the fruit and vegetables consumed in the West Bank are produced in the greenhouses and fruit groves of the Tulkarem/Qalqilya area.

An ISM spokesperson said " Israel's Apartheid Wall is yet another device to camouflage the theft of yet more Palestinian land and leave Palestinians to " live like dogs " in Israeli general Moshe Dayan's famous phrase. Today's action shows what can be done by Palestinians with limited international support. But without major and sustained international pressure, Palestinians such as the villagers of Zeta will once more become the victims of Israel's criminal state. "

Tomorrow activists will attempt to keep open the roads unblocked in today's action enabling more farmers to reach their lands.

The international activists involved in today's action were from the UK, Sweden and the US.

For more information, please contact:

Chris Dunham +972 67657262