For further information, including a more detailed Press Pack containing background information on the village of Rafat please contact the IWPS Office: 09-2516-644 , mobile: 054 214 9589/059 975 6222 or iwps@palnet.com.

***RAFAT VILLAGE AND INTERNATIONAL ACTIVISTS WILL RESIST DESTRUCTION OF SHEPHERD’S HOMES NEAR THE WALL ***

For Immediate Release

RAFAT, WEST BANK – 17 March 2006. Today at 9 am people of Rafat village and international activists are gathering to block the destruction of several shepherd’s homes and cattle sheds on the ’Palestinian’ side of the Wall. The Israeli Occupation Forces issued immediate demolition orders earlier this week and have threatened to shoot the shepherds if they do not move by today. Similar structures were destroyed two days ago in the neighboring village Deir Ballut (see pictures).

The homes and sheds are on the east side of the Wall (the ‘ Palestinian’ side), which is already constructed 6 kilometers within the Green Line. After Rafat village managed to change the path of the Wall through a court case, the valley remained part of the village’s land. But the commander of the IOF who issued the demolition orders stated that all land of Rafat not planted with olive trees is a closed military zone and should be free of any structures. The homes and sheds are more than half a kilometer from the Wall and not in sight of any Israeli settlement or army base.

The Wall in Rafat has partly been constructed. Already it has forced the shepherds from their original pasture, the most fertile valley of the village. Their sheep and goats are their only means of livelihood and the shepherds have no other fields to go to anymore.

The Wall in Rafat is part of the future corridor between Tel Aviv and Ariel, of which Prime Minister Olmert said again this week: “The Ariel block will be an inseparable part of the state of Israel under any situation”.

For further information, including a more detailed Press Pack containing background information on the village of Rafat please contact the IWPS Office: 09-2516-644, mobile: 054 214 9589/059 975 6222 or iwps@palnet.com

Destruction of shepherds’ homes and sheds in Deir Ballut (13 March 2006):

International Women’s Peace Service (IWPS)
Hares, Salfit
Telephone: 09 251 66 44
Website: www.iwps.info