On Friday, villagers from the Bil’in, near the central West Bank city of Ramallah, along with international and Israeli peace activists, marched in the weekly nonviolent protest against the illegal wall Israel is building on stolen village land.
Although Israeli army troops were deployed around the village to keep the protesters away, this week, the organizers of the protest decided to change the route of the demonstration, taking the soldiers by surprise.
The nonviolent activists managed to reach the illegal wall and hold their protest on a security road between the wall and the so called ‘security fence’, made of razor wire. As is the case each week, the army used violence against unarmed civilians.
Three protesters were injured and had to be transferred to hospital, while Abdullah Abu Rahamah, the coordinator of the village’s ‘popular committee against the wall and settlements’ was kidnapped by the Israeli forces. He was released after four hours.
In related news, Alberto de Jesus, also known as Tito Kayak, was released after he was kidnapped by the army Israeli army and detained for five days. He was detained at last week’s demonstration after performing an incredible non-violent stunt at the demonstration.
Despite Israel’s tight security, he managed to scale a 100 meter Israeli communications tower and unfurl the Palestinian flag at the Bil’in wall. Tito is a well-known activist for Puerto Rican independence. In the year 2000, in a widely publicized stunt, he climbed the statue of liberty in New York unfurled a Puerto Rican flag.
