Palestinian medical sources in Bil’in, near the central West Bank city of Ramallah, reported that dozens of protesters suffered the effects of tear gas inhalation after the army fired gas bombs at them, and sprayed them with waste-water mixed with chemicals.As the residents, accompanied by Israeli and International peace activists, started their weekly nonviolent protest against the Annexation Wall and settlements, and headed to Abu Lemon nature reserve, the army sprayed them with waste-water mixed with chemicals, colloquially known as ‘skunk water’.
The protesters carried Palestinian flags and pictures of Rachel Corrie, an American peace activist who, in 2003, was crushed to death by an Israeli bulldozer in Rafah, in the southern part of the Gaza Strip.
The protesters expressed their rejection to the recent Israeli court ruling that said that the army “was at no fault in Rachel’s murder”, and that “she should not have been there”.
They called on the International Community to counter the ongoing Israeli violations, and demanded human rights groups to reject the Israeli court ruling in Rachel’s case, as this ruling is not only a violation against the family or Rachel, but a violation of all human rights treaties.
The protesters chanted for national unity among all Palestinian factions, demanded Israel to release all political prisoners, and called for ending the illegal Israeli occupation of Palestine.
It is worth mentioning that British Parliamentarians visited Bil’in and participated in the nonviolent protest. They also toured the village and its lands, and held talks with local leaders of the popular nonviolent resistance against the illegal Israeli Annexation Wall and Israel’s illegal settlements, built on privately-owned Palestinian lands.
