Israeli forces forcibly suppressed a demonstration in the Qalqiliya district of the northern occupied West Bank on Saturday, January 7, detaining at least one Palestinian. Palestinians from the villages of Izbat al-Tabib and Al-Nabi Ilias, together with Israeli peace activists, protested against an Israeli court decision authorizing construction of a new settler road on the village’s private land.

Palestinian demonstrators waved the Palestinian national flag on land slated for Israeli confiscation. Israeli peace activists were also supposed to join the demonstration, but were denied entry at the Israeli checkpoints. But a small group of Israelis activists was able to make it to the village via a different route

Israeli forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator on Saturday, January 7, in the Qalqiliya district of the northern occupied West Bank. (Photo: Ma’an)

Witnesses told the Palestinian news agency Ma’an that Israeli forces were deployed heavily on Highway 55, a road heavily used by settlers which passes alongside or through the villages of Azzun, Izbat al-Tabib, and Nabi Ilias, and prevented Palestinian demonstrators from congregating along the thoroughfare. Witnesses added that Israeli soldiers had detained a young Palestinian man whose identity remained unknown as of Saturday afternoon.

Walid Assaf, head of the Palestinian Authority (PA)’s committee for resisting Israel’s wall and settlements, said that the demonstration was organized to oppose the construction of the court authorized three-kilometer bypass road, which would circumvent Nabi Ilias and be open only to Israeli settlers residing illegally in the occupied Palestinian territory, and would be built on private Palestinian land. He accused the Israeli court of approving the decision after “falling under pressure of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu,” mentioning that Netanyahu had personally intervened in the court’s decision.

Shortly after the demonstrators reached the area slated for expropriation, Israeli soldiers arrived on the scene and declared it a closed military zone. The soldiers also arrested two of the demonstrators and pushed the rest back into the village.

Meanwhile 60 Israeli activists attempted to cross Eliyahu checkpoint on a bus and in several private cars in order to join the Palestinian protest, which was planned in coordination with Palestinian and Israeli activists from the anti-occupation group, Combatants for Peace. While cars usually pass through from Israel to the West Bank without any inspection, this time soldiers and police officers inspected every vehicle for potential demonstrators. The soldiers identified the bus and the cars carrying the activists, warning them — and only them — that they were entering a “closed military zone”, and that they could not pass through the checkpoint. Other cars were allowed to pass.