Activists set up new tent village near Hebron

A group of activists Saturday put up a new tent village near Yatta, south of Hebron in the south of the West Bank to protest Israeli land expropriation to expand nearby illegal settlements, according to activists. Tens of activists arrived in Yatta during the early hours of the morning to put up the tent village they named Canaan on land surrounded by the illegal settlements of Sussia and Karmiel A first attempt by Palestinian and foreign activists and residents of Yatta to build the tent village of Canaan was quickly foiled when the soldiers, who surrounded the area, removed them and took them away. Activists later returned and set up tents on the same location, but the army removed them again. Soldiers at one point attacked the activists injuring one woman and sprayed skunk water at the tents to keep the activists away and declared the area a closed military zone, said activists. Soldiers cordoned the area and prevented more activists from reaching Canaan village, which was set up only a week after a similar protest tent village, al-Manatir, was put up on land near the village of Burin, south of Nablus, also to protest Israeli settlement expansion. Palestinians had in one month made three other attempts to build protest tent villages, the first was in E1 area of Jerusalem, named Bab al-Shams, the second was on Beit Iksa land, north of Jerusalem, which was named Bab al-Karameh, and the third was in Jenin area names Soumoud village.