Anti-Wall Activists Beaten and Shot with Rubber Bullets in Bil'in Protest
IMEMC | 30.12.2006 02:55 | Anti-militarism | Repression | World
Around 200 hundred people, including international and Israeli activists, joined together in Bil'in village, near the city of Ramallah in the West Bank, for the weekly demonstration against the illegal annexation of the village's land. Nearly 60% of Bil'in has been lost as the route of the wall cuts directly through the area.
Soldiers awaited the procession at the gate west of the village, and did not immediately intervene when several Palestinians and activists crossed through the razor wire and began walking the length along the first fence.
Several sections of razor wire were pulled apart along the path of the Wall to allow other Palestinians passage through to the barrier's fence. Soldiers responded intermittently with sound bombs and used batons to strike the hands of Israeli activists attempting to untie sections of wire fastened to the fence. The demonstration remained non-violent throughout.
On the walk back, residents noticed soldiers had occupied three Palestinian homes at the top of a hill. Soldiers had been using these locations to fire tear gas at youths not participating in the main demonstration. Demonstrators chanted to the soldiers who retreated from one house, but remained inside another, and on the roof of the third.
Soldiers then fired tear gas, rubber-coated steel bullets and sound bombs when Palestinians entered the second home to force an additional four soldiers to leave. In an ensuing scuffle, soldiers attempted to arrest one resident, Farhan Burnat (26), though residents and activists prevented them from removing him in custody.
The military beat those attempting to free Burnat with clubs. Soldiers on the rooftop of an occupied home fired large quantities of gas toward the demonstrators and shot several residents with rubber-coated bullets, including Abdullah Abu Rahme, a local organizer of the Grassroots Popular Committee Against the Wall.
In an exclusive interview with the IMEMC, Abu Rahme stated, “We de-arrested a man, and Iwas about 100-150 meters away, raising a Palestinian flag when the soldiers shot me with two rubber bullets. They were beating the man they were trying to arrest, and they beat Mohammed Al-Khatib badly.”
Mohammed Al-Khatib, another local organizer with the Popular Committee Against the Wall, is currently receiving treatment for his injuries.
Several sections of razor wire were pulled apart along the path of the Wall to allow other Palestinians passage through to the barrier's fence. Soldiers responded intermittently with sound bombs and used batons to strike the hands of Israeli activists attempting to untie sections of wire fastened to the fence. The demonstration remained non-violent throughout.
On the walk back, residents noticed soldiers had occupied three Palestinian homes at the top of a hill. Soldiers had been using these locations to fire tear gas at youths not participating in the main demonstration. Demonstrators chanted to the soldiers who retreated from one house, but remained inside another, and on the roof of the third.
Soldiers then fired tear gas, rubber-coated steel bullets and sound bombs when Palestinians entered the second home to force an additional four soldiers to leave. In an ensuing scuffle, soldiers attempted to arrest one resident, Farhan Burnat (26), though residents and activists prevented them from removing him in custody.
The military beat those attempting to free Burnat with clubs. Soldiers on the rooftop of an occupied home fired large quantities of gas toward the demonstrators and shot several residents with rubber-coated bullets, including Abdullah Abu Rahme, a local organizer of the Grassroots Popular Committee Against the Wall.
In an exclusive interview with the IMEMC, Abu Rahme stated, “We de-arrested a man, and Iwas about 100-150 meters away, raising a Palestinian flag when the soldiers shot me with two rubber bullets. They were beating the man they were trying to arrest, and they beat Mohammed Al-Khatib badly.”
Mohammed Al-Khatib, another local organizer with the Popular Committee Against the Wall, is currently receiving treatment for his injuries.
IMEMC
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Additions
Despite Israeli ssurances, illegal settlements continue to grow
30.12.2006 03:07
In the month of December alone, 90 new Israeli trailers were placed on illegally-seized Palestinian land in the West Bank. The trailers are the first stage of expanding existing Israeli settlements, and of establishing new ones.
According to Israeli law, once illegal settlements are established for a certain amount of time and with a certain amount of population in the West Bank, the government of Israel is then required to recognize them as municipalities and provide services such as roads, electricity and water -- despite the fact that the settlements are built on illegally-seized Palestinian land.
Israeli settlers have installed 200 new trailers on stolen Palestinian land in the last six months, despite the fact that Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has made numerous public assurances that settlements would not be expanded and illegal outposts would be dismantled.
The new trailers, considered illegal under Israeli law, were spotted in an aerial survey conducted by the Israeli Civil Administration, according to the Israeli daily Ha'aretz. Despite their illegality, the outposts are unlikely to be demolished, according to the Israeli daily, as the Israeli legal system makes it very easy for such outposts to be constructed, and difficult for them to be demolished.
The latest trailer construction has been taking place in Givat Assaf, near Beit El, and Amona, near Ofra in the West Bank. 250,000 Israeli settlers currently live in the Israeli-occupied West Bank of Palestine, and 240,000 live in Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem. Such settlements, on land seized illegally from Palestinians, are considered illegal under international law, an authority Israel has thus far refused to acknowledge.
According to Israeli law, once illegal settlements are established for a certain amount of time and with a certain amount of population in the West Bank, the government of Israel is then required to recognize them as municipalities and provide services such as roads, electricity and water -- despite the fact that the settlements are built on illegally-seized Palestinian land.
Israeli settlers have installed 200 new trailers on stolen Palestinian land in the last six months, despite the fact that Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has made numerous public assurances that settlements would not be expanded and illegal outposts would be dismantled.
The new trailers, considered illegal under Israeli law, were spotted in an aerial survey conducted by the Israeli Civil Administration, according to the Israeli daily Ha'aretz. Despite their illegality, the outposts are unlikely to be demolished, according to the Israeli daily, as the Israeli legal system makes it very easy for such outposts to be constructed, and difficult for them to be demolished.
The latest trailer construction has been taking place in Givat Assaf, near Beit El, and Amona, near Ofra in the West Bank. 250,000 Israeli settlers currently live in the Israeli-occupied West Bank of Palestine, and 240,000 live in Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem. Such settlements, on land seized illegally from Palestinians, are considered illegal under international law, an authority Israel has thus far refused to acknowledge.
IMEMC
