Israeli soldiers attacked on Friday the weekly nonviolent protest against the Annexation Wall and settlements, in Bil’in village near the central West Bank city of Ramallah, dozens suffered the effects of teargas inhalation. Soldiers also attacked nonviolent protests in Nil’in village, Nabi Saleh, Kafr Qaddoum, and Al Ma’sara.The Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements in Bil’in reported that a Norwegian delegation from the Palestinian Cultural Exchange Foundation and dozens of Palestinian, international and Israeli peace activists, participated in the weekly nonviolent protest.
The protest started after Friday prayers in the village and headed towards the land that was returned to the residents this June after the residents won a court ruling in this regard.
The Committee reported that the protestors carried Palestinian flags and a “Waves of Freedom” banner, in honor of the Irish and Canadian ships heading to Gaza to break the siege. The ships were intercepted by the Israeli Navy on Friday.
The protest also came in commemoration with the infamous Balfour Declaration of November 2nd, 1917, in which Britain, the occupier of Palestine at the time, promised Palestine as a homeland for the Jewish People.
The protesters chanted against the Israeli occupation, the illegal Annexation Wall and settlements, and called for the freedom of all Palestinian political prisoners held by Israel, in addition to ending the illegal Israeli siege on Gaza.
As the protestors arrive at the Abu Lemon Natural Reserve, a number of protestors managed to remove a section of the barbed-wire and some iron posts surrounding the Annexation Wall.
Soldiers stationed behind the concrete Annexation Wall fired gas bombs at the protesters, the journalists and international supporters.
Also on Friday, soldiers kidnapped Hamza Bornat, 18, a resident of Bil’in, while he was documenting the events that took place in Nabi Saleh village, northwest of Ramallah, during the weekly protest there that also marked the 94th anniversary of the Balfour declaration.
Bornat is a volunteer cameraman for the Friends of Freedom and Justice, and the Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements, in Bil’in village. He spent a year in Israeli detention centers before and was released a few months ago.
Furthermore, soldiers attacked nonviolent protesters in Ni’lin village, near Ramallah, and fired gas bombs at them.
Troops also attacked the weekly nonviolent protests in Al Ma’sara village, near the West Bank city of Bethlehem, and prevented them from reaching their lands where Israel is constructing the Annexation Wall. Troops attacked the protesters with batons and rifle-buts.
The army further attacked the nonviolent protestors in Kafr Qaddoum village, near the northern West Bank city of Nablus, and fired gas bombs at them. At least twelve residents, including five children, were treated for the effects of teargas inhalation.
The protesters were also demanding the army to open the main entrance of the village, blocked by the army since 10 years.
