by the ISM media team, November 22nd
Last night the IOF invaded Bil’in village at around 2am and arrested 4 villagers, who were taken to Ofer military base. Head of the Popular Committee against the Wall Iyad Burnat, committee member Basel Mansour, Loi Burnat and Khamis Abu Rahme were held at Ofer until 9am when they were taken to the police station at Mod’in.
They were then interrogated first by the police and then by Shabak, the Israeli intelligence service. They were questioned at length on their involvement in the weekly non-violent demonstrations and threatened with being charged for the actions of others at the protests. The four were finally released without charge in the evening. This is merely the latest attempt to intimidate the non-violent resistance to the apartheid wall and Israeli colonies, which after nearly two years of weekly demonstrations in Bil’in, refuses to succumb to the repression of the Zionist regime.
Meanwhile in a further attempt to disrupt the lives of non-violent activists in Bil’in the trial of Popular Committee Coordinator Abdullah Abu Rahme was postponed after Border Policemen failed to appear at the court. The trial has been postponed until January 16th. Abdullah was arrested in non-violent demonstrations last year on June 17th, July 15th, and September 9th.