Demonstration

1/12/07
From IMEMC and RJI (Bil’in, West Bank) - Approximately 150 Palestinian, Israeli and international demonstrators, accompanied by several journalists participated in a demostration today against the illegal Isreali Annexation Wall in Bil’in.

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 in last Thursday’s invasion of that city. Aruri remains in critical condition in Tel Aviv.

Demonstrators took refuge on the adjacent hill as youth began lobbing stones toward 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 intially successful in preventing the passage of the two jeeps. They were joined by resident Muhammad Ali 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 Bil’in medical relief volunteer Sheik Suliman Yassin. 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 an American activist who retreated as the military approached. The activist surrendured after soldiers fired several rounds of rubber-coated munition at him, though he was not injured. He was forced to his knees and soldiers began binding his wrists when an Israeli videographer interceded. He 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 atop the vehicles. Bil’in, located near Ramallah in the West Bank, has lost close to 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.


Several people reported injuries, including:

Adib Abu Rahma (35) – beaten with batons
Sameer Suliman Yassin (31) baton injuries to the hand
Wha’il famil nasser (29) baton injuries to the head
Khaled shoukat al Khatib (20) explosive gas bomb to the back
Ashraf Muhammad Jamal Khatib (27) rubber coated bullet in the leg
Zuhdia ali al Khatib (40) rubber coated bullet in her leg
Motassem ibrahim abu Rahma (20) rubber coated bullet in the leg
Associated Press Journalist burned by percussion grenade
Jonothan Pollack, Israel (25) rubber coated bullet in the stomach
Sarah, international volunteer (25) explosive gas bomb to the shoulder


For more information, please contact Abdullah Rahman, international volunteer coordinator for the Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements in Bil’in at: (972) 054 725 8210.