Approximately 150 Palestinian, Israeli and international demonstrators, accompanied by several journalists, participated in a demonstration at midday on Friday against the illegal Israeli Annexation Wall in Bilin village near the northern West Bank city of Ramallah.
Approximately 150 Palestinian, Israeli and international demonstrators, accompanied by several journalists, participated in a demonstration at midday on Friday against the illegal Israeli Annexation Wall in Bilin village near the northern West Bank city of Ramallah.
The procession approached an access point in the Wall and demanded the gate be opened. Residents held pictures of photojournalist Fadi Aruri, 24, of Ramallah, who was shot several times during an invasion of the city last Thursday. Aruri remains in a critical condition in an Israeli hospital.
Demonstrators took refuge on the adjacent hill as youth began throwing stones towards the soldiers. Israeli forces fired tear gas, percussion grenades and rubber-coated steel bullets at the youth, before opening the gate to allow access for two Israeli Border Police units.
Residents and activists lay in the road and were initially successful in preventing the passage of the two jeeps. They were joined by resident Muhammad Alli Abu Sadi, 70, after he had been struck repeatedly by soldiers. Abu Sadi suffered exhaustion and collapsed shortly thereafter. After a scuffle in which soldiers attempted to prevent treatment, he was attended to and revived by Bilin medical relief volunteers.
The remaining protesters were beaten and dragged across stones as they were removed from the scene. Two Israeli Border Police units then pursued Palestinian youths several hundred meters into a residential area of the village, firing tear gas, percussion grenades and rubber-coated metal bullets. Three Border Police Officers attempted to arrest Sam Neil, 23, an American activist who retreated as the military approached. Neil surrendered after soldiers fired several rounds of rubber-coated ammunition at him, though he was not injured. He was forced to his knees and soldiers began binding his wrists when an Israeli videographer interceded. Neil was released shortly thereafter.
Border Police units retreated toward the access gate in two jeeps, firing tear gas and rubber-coated bullets from rooftop hatches on top of the vehicles. Bilin, has lost almost sixty percent of its land to the construction of the Wall and expansion of Modin Illit settlement. Residents here have held similar protests every Friday for nearly two years.
Abdullah Abu Rahma , from the local committee against the Wall and settlements in Bilin said: \\\’As usual soldiers were positioned on rooftops of the residents homes overlooking the village, another large Israeli army force was positioned at the gate of the wall, the army was very violent, soldiers attacked demonstrators, and as always journalists were targeted\\\’.
Emilio, a journalist who works for AP was wounded and moved to the hospital. Among those also injured were: Adib Abu Rahma , 35, who was beaten with batons; Sameer Suliman Yassin , 30, who recieved baton injuries to the hand; Whail Famil Nasser, 29, who received baton injuries to the head and Khaled Shoukat Al Khatib ,20, whose back was injured by a gas explosion. Ashraf Muhammad Jamal Khatib , 27, was wounded by a rubber coated bullet in the leg, as was Zuhdia Ali Al Khatib ,40,and Motassem Ibrahim Abu Rahma , 20.
Jonothan Pollack an Israeli, 25, was injured by a rubber coated bullet in the stomach and Sarah, an international volunteer ,25, sustained shoulder injuries from an explosive gas bomb.
For more information, please contact Abdullah Rahman, international volunteer coordinator for the Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements in Bilin at: (972) 054 725 8210.
