by ISM media team, October 27th
for video and audio footage of the demo visit www.palestinewitness.net
Twelve-year old Ibrahim Ghazi Beit-Ilo was hit in the neck by shrapnel from a live bullet following a peaceful protest march against the Apartheid Wall in Bil’in today. He underwent surgery at the Ramallah goverment hospital and the shrapnel was successfully removed. Another 16 people were injured by shrapnel from exploding tear gas and sound bomb cannisters or were beaten with military truncheons. Two Israeli protestors were arrested.
The 600 protestors, comprising Palestinians, Israelis and internationals, Palestinian flags flying, marched behind political and religious leaders. Palestinian Legislative Council members Kayes Abu-Leila (Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine) and Mohib Awad, Israeli MKs Mohammed Barakeh and Dov Hanin, Taysir Tamimi a Muslim religious leader and village leaders marched at the head of the protest from the Bil’in mosque to the massive razor wire fortifications that divide the village from its agricultural lands. When they arrived they were met by fully armed Israeli soldiers in battle dress along with the notorius border police.
The focus of the protest was a symbolic breach of the wall created by placing two ladders across the first razor wire fence. Using the ladders as a bridge, a group of protestors moved into the next line of wall fortifications. As they crossed they were attacked by tear gas and sound bombs.
The army turned on the massed demonstrators who were chanting “No to the Wall” in Arabic. Soldiers fired tear gas and sound bombs into the crowd, which began to retreat. As the marchers moved back toward the village, soliders penetrated into the village olive groves, gassing the retreating protestors. One gas cannister was fired at the ambulance parked on a hill distant from the wall and soldiers penetrated into the edge of the village where another tear gas cannister was shot into a house, injuring grandmother Intisar Burnat.
The villagers of Bilin have lost more than 50% of their agricultural lands to the Apartheid Wall. The Israeli government illegally expropriated their lands without compensation. Although the seizure of the lands was done in the name of security, in fact, research has found that corrupt army planners eased the transfer of Bilin’s land to a billionaire Russian real estate mogul who belongs to the Lubavitcher Hassidim. Bilin lands are now the site of the illegal settlement of Modin Elit.
Adeeb Abu Rahma -beaten on the leg
Basem Ahmad Issa -rubber bullet in the back.
Zohdiya Ali Alkhatib -teargas
Mohammad Alkhatib -beaten and leg injury
Naser Abu Rahma -shrapnel from a sound bomb in the hand
Ahmad Mohammad Hassan -rubber bullet in the leg
Oz Marinov -hit in the ankle by a sound bomb
Amir Sidi -wounded in the forhead by shrapnel from a sound bomb
R. – foot cut by razor wire
G. and L. – beaten with truncheons
For more information:
Abdullah Abu Rahme – 054 725 8210
ISM media office – 02 297 18 24