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from Rebuilding Alliance:


This just in, below, from Al Aqaba Village. Please note that the Israeli High Court Decision in 2011 specifically prohibits live fire training within Al Aqaba Village.

“My name is Sunny I am an activist in West Bank. I alongside two other Swedish activists am staying at the guest house of Al-aqaba in solidarity with the family of Nassa and Muhammed Al-jabba whose home has been threatened with demolition.

Our overnight experience on the first night which was Tuesday 26th June, was not a pleasant one. As we heard from the Village mayor and many of the residents, the soldiers regularly do military training at a nearby base . However recently for the last two weeks the soldiers have been carrying out their military training within the village. On the morning of 26th June soldiers were using Military Tanks for training, which including practice for rocket launching, the mayor said this is the first time the residents had to hear noise on such a scale, which they found extremely alarming.

As we slept overnight, we woke up to the sounds of gunshots and heard extremely loud bangs. The soldiers were carrying out military training exercise for a second consecutive day. The loud bangs sounded as if the soldiers were using rockets, just like the previous day. This continued for about half an hour until they went back to gunshots. After speaking to residents in the village including Haj sami, whom you know very well, they also heard the noises and could not sleep.

We have been walking around the village today to keep an eye on the soldiers just in case they come to demolish the home. As i type this, soldiers are carrying out military training within the Village of Al-Aqaba. The soldiers arrived in the village to prepare for training at approximately 8.30pm and the shooting, which we presume is part of the military training, began at 1030pm. As part of the training, the soldiers were walking past peoples homes, and were seen firing live ammunition. As far as I am aware it is totally illegal to carry out training in the midst of people’s homes. It is approximately 2am and the training has still has not stopped. There are still shots being fired every 15 minutes.

Haj Sami has contacted the DCO of the army who told him that the soldiers were only patrolling the village and were not carrying out any training, which is a blatant lie.

As for our overall experience so far, we can definitely say that we are extremely concerned for the welfare of the residents. They are extremely worried about the soldiers using their village as a training base and we are concerned somebody could get seriously hurt.”

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Army Conducts Training In A Palestinian Village

by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agenices

Israeli soldiers conducted military training on Friday at dawn inside the Palestinian village of Al-Aqaba, east of the West Bank city of Tubas, using live ammunition in the village’s streets and neighborhoods, the Palestine News and Info Agency (WAFA) reported.

Sami Sadeq, head of the Al-Aqaba village council, reported that dozens of soldiers invaded the village, as part of their military training, and started firing at random using rounds of live ammunition.

He added the army previously held several drills in the village, but added that, this time, the army even violated an Israeli court ruling preventing the soldiers from holding military trainings in the village.

WAFA said that the army started, several days ago, a series of military drills in the area, and on the surrounding its hills and meadows, using live ammunition and even artillery shells.