My name is Khalid Al-Salfiti. Originally from Salfit, I have been living in Jerusalem since I was 12, when I was orphaned. I came to Jerusalem to find work, and at the time, in the year 1962, the city was bustling. When I grew older, an acquaintance who knew me well gave me money to buy a shop in Jerusalem -the Old City- and until today this shop is my work and my income. It has allowed me to care for my family and to buy a home.

This was originally posted on the BNC website: http://www.bdsmovement.net/2011/occupy-wall-street-not-palestine-8163

Occupied Palestine, October 13 - The Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee (BNC), the largest Palestinian civil society coalition struggling for Palestinian rights, is proud to stand in solidarity with the movements struggling for a new world based on democracy, human rights and economic justice. From New York to Athens, from Madrid to Santiago, from Bahrain to Rome, these huge mobilisations provide a much needed reminder of something that Palestinians have always known – that another world, a dignifying one, is possible and ordinary people can create it.

Mazin Qumsiyeh, coordinator of the popular committee against the apartheid wall and the settlements in Beit Sahour and professor at Bethlehem and Birzeit Universities, tells the story of his arrest:

***image1*** Each day, for the last four months, Khalid Yousef Zeet, a resident and farmer in Qalqiliya, has worked his last three dunums of land despite harassment from Israeli contractors and private security. The activity of bulldozers destroying his land, less than one hundred meters away, takes place while he harvests and replants what is left of his crops. Three dunums of cabbage is all Khalid was left with after November 2002 when the Israeli military confiscated his other five dunums of cropland, bountiful with orange, lemon, guava, and olive trees, for the Wall.

The March 15 protests drew thousands into al Manara Square, Ramallah, and many thousands more to the streets in Gaza. Inspired by the ongoing revolts in the Arab world, youth organizers have defined their own calls for more participation. On al Manara Square among the protestors were a dozen youth on hunger strike, while other protestors in Bethlehem remained camped out in Nativity Square. One youth activist from the West Bank spoke about the demonstrations and their goals:

***image2***Interview with Mr. Manuel Abdel Aal, a member of the executive committee of the Federation of Palestinian Trade Unions (PGFTU)



On the occasion of Labour Day, could you tell us about the situation of workers in the occupied Palestinian territories?