A group of Palestinian activists used hammers and crowbars to break a square meter hole in the Israeli separation wall dividing lands belonging to the West Bank town of Al Khader in the late hours of Friday night.
Palestinian activists break a hole in the Israeli separation wall dividing land belonging to the West Bank town of Al Khader in the late night hours of November 22, 2013. (photo: Activestills.org)
Although the activists hammered away at the wall for nearly an hour, with traffic passing by on Road 60 on the other side of the wall, no police or military forces arrived on the scene during the entire action.
Read Haggai Matar’s award-winning series: The Wall – 10 years on
The action followed similar breaches in the towns of Bir Nabala and Rafat one week ago, and Abu Dis in May of this year. While the Abu Dis event, in a heavily populated neighborhood bordering East Jerusalem was met with an intense reaction by Israeli forces, including rubber-coated steel bullets and tear gas, the recent breaches in more rural areas went entirely undetected while in progress.
Such actions call into question the effectiveness of the wall’s ostensible security function, since had either group planned on actually infiltrating Israel for the purpose of attack, they could have easily crossed the barrier unhindered.
Activists approach the wall and begin breaking a hole with hammers and crowbars. (photo: Activestills.org)
Street lights from Road 60 on the other side of the wall shine through as activists widen the hole. (photo: Activestills.org)
One activist climbs the wall to act as a lookout. No police or military forces arrived during the entire action. (photo: Activestills.org)
The event followed similar actions by activists who breached the wall in Bir Nabala and Rafat one week ago. (photo: Activestills.org)
An activist looks through the hole, now large enough for a person to easily pass through. Lights from the Israeli settlement Har Gilo are visible in the distance. All Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem are illegal under international law. (photo: Activestills.org)
Our team has been devastated by the horrific events of this latest war – the atrocities committed by Hamas in Israel and the massive retaliatory Israeli attacks on Gaza. Our hearts are with all the people and communities facing violence.
We are in an extraordinarily dangerous era in Israel-Palestine. The bloodshed unleashed by these events has reached extreme levels of brutality and threatens to engulf the entire region. Hamas’ murderous assault in southern Israel has devastated and shocked the country to its core. Israel’s retaliatory bombing of Gaza is wreaking destruction on the already besieged strip and killing a ballooning number of civilians. Emboldened settlers in the West Bank, backed by the army, are seizing the opportunity to escalate their attacks on Palestinians.
This escalation has a very clear context, one that +972 has spent the past 13 years covering: Israeli society’s growing racism and militarism, the entrenched occupation, and an increasingly normalized siege on Gaza.
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