On Friday in Bil’in village, central West Bank, demonstrators against the Israeli built wall and illegal Israeli settlements were met with live ammunition, tear gas (in both plastic and aluminum canisters), rubber bullets, and sound bombs from the Israeli army.
Rubber bullets and tear gas canisters injured six demonstrators. Many suffered from sever tear gas inhalation including Fatah leader Dr. Nabil Shath.
Others injured include Palestinian cameraman Fadi Aljause and reporter Haron Amira, Bassem Ahmad Yassin (leg injury), Ibrahim Burnat (rubber bullet injury), Nayif Ghazi (tear gas canister head injury), and a man from Jericho who was taken to the hospital in Ramallah (we have not received information about his current condition).
Palestinian, Israeli and International demonstrators marched to the wall with a 10-meter-long Palestinian flag at which time the military immediately began firing tear gas into the crowd. The army entered the village and attempted to arrest two of the Palestinian activists.
Israeli and International activists physically intervened in order to stop the arrests. Soldiers shot live ammunition into the air during the conflict in an attempt to scare and disperse the crowd.
The crowd consisting of many Israeli solidarity activists did not disperse and began chanting “shame on you” in Hebrew. Mean while many soldiers were entering from another entrance point in the apartheid fence. They attempted to surround the demonstrators from three directions, but were unsuccessful.
The last two weeks of the New Year have been marked by an increase in kidnappings and harassment of Palestinian popular resistance organizers and activists in the West Bank.
