Seven arrested in Bil’in, six injured

Soldiers arrested on Wednesday seven residents and international peace activists in the village of Bil’in, near the West Bank city of Ramallah, six residents were injured.

Mohammad Khateeb, member of the Popular Committee Against the Wall, said that the protestors chanted slogans against the Wall, while the soldiers violently attacked seven protestors, causing injuries. 

Khateeb added that soldiers attacked the seven protestors, clubbed and punched four of them, and arrested Tamer Amer al-Khateeb, from Bil’in, Huwaida Arraf, an Arab-American, three international activists and two Israelis.

Arraf is also a bearer and a holder of an Israeli passport.

Soldiers used clubs and gas bombs against the protestors after they marched towards a construction site, canting against the Wall and calling for internal Palestinian Unity.

Six injured, detained in Bil’in protest

Four Palestinian residents and two Israelis were injured and detained on Wednesday, during a procession against the Separation Wall in Bil’in, northeast of the West Bank city of Ramallah.

A local source in the village reported that dozens of residents and Israeli and international peace activists took part in the protest.

Some protestors chained themselves to barrels, and seven placed themselves in a pipe, in an attempt to prevent the soldiers from bulldozing the lands and resuming the construction of the Separation Wall.

The Israeli army violently countered the peaceful protest. “They attacked us from several directions,” a source in Bil’in said.

Several protesters, especially those who placed themselves in the pipe, were badly beaten by the soldiers.

Mohammad Khateeb, member of the Popular Committee Against the Wall in Bil’in and one of the organizers of the demonstration, said the protest also aimed to send a message to Palestinian residents: “Liberate their country first, then argue who liberated it.”

Khateeb was referring to the recent clashes between Hamas and Fatah.

Earlier on Wednesday, Israeli soldiers broke into and searched the home of Eyad Bornat, head of the Popular Committee Against the Wall in Bil’in. Soldiers occupied several rooms in the home, using it as a military post. Some damage was reported.