International Solidarity Movement Nonviolence. Justice. Freedom.
Four injured and two arrested in Bil’in anti-Wall protest
After the weekly Friday prayers, residents of the West Bank village of Bil’in, near Ramallah and a group of international and Israeli peace activists took to the streets of the village. The protesters carried Palestinian flags and banners celebrating the twentieth anniversary of the first Intifada. They chanted slogans which called for the dismantling of the separation wall and the settlements, the removal of military checkpoints and the release of Palestinian detainees from Israeli jails.
The Israeli army installed a barbed-wire roadblock to try and prevent the protesters reaching the construction sight. However, the protesters managed to pass the road block and staged a one hour protest at the site. When the protesters were returning, the army showered them with tear gas and sound bombs; they also fired rubber coated bullets at the crowd. Some protesters were pursued by military forces back to their homes and bombs were fired at the home of Na’eem and ‘Auni Burnat.
Many protesters, including young children, suffered from tear gas inhalation. Four protesters were beaten harshly by the soldiers including a female peace activist, a journalist and an elderly local man. An Israeli journalist identified as David Reep and an Israeli peace activist who was identified as Shmuel, were detained during the event and released shortly after.
Three injured in peaceful protest near Ramallah
For the second week running, residents of villages located west of the city of Ramallah, including Beit U’r al Tahta and Beit U’r al Fouqa, Beit Seera, Beit Liqia, al Teerah, and Safa were joined by international and Israeli peace activists in their peaceful demonstration.
They were protesting against the closure of the Latrun-Ramallah road (443) to them. The road passes through their lands and connects them with the West Bank city of Ramallah.
The protest began after the Friday weekly prayers. Protesters carried with them flags and banners calling for an end to discrimination and the cessation of checkpoints and roadblocks. They also called for the end to settlement construction and the demolition of the Separation Wall.
When they reached the road, soldiers attacked the protesters with gas and sound bombs and fired rubber coated bullets. Dozens suffered after inhaling gas and three children were hit by the rubber coated bullets.
From Indymedia: Collective punishment during Um Salamona Demonstration
Tens of Palestinians, Israelis and Internationals gathered today at the junction near Um-Salamona. The demonstrators marched on the road leading to the Jewish settlement of Efrat, protesting against the Apartheid wall that is being built on the land of Palestinian villages.
While anti-occupation slogans were chanted, the march went on for some ten minutes, without blocking traffic. Tens of Israeli soldiers, later joined by Israeli police and riot police, stopped the march just before reaching the entrance to Efrat, and very close to were the wall is being built. Soldiers announced the area a “closed military zone”, and violently pushed demonstrators of the road.
Once the road was already cleared, and demonstrators surrounded on its side, the army declared it would stop all Palestinian traffic on the road as penalty – which it did. Army jeeps and soldiers stopped all Palestinian cars on the road for a fair half an hour, while Israeli cars drove by undisturbed.
For the next hour soldiers kept redefining the invisible parameters of the “closed zone”, forcibly pushing demonstrators away. Several Palestinian photographers were arrested, but as far as we know were later released.
For more information:
The Bilin Friends of Freedom and Justice society
Email: majdarmajdar@yahoo.com
Tel: 972 547 847 942
http://www. Ffj-bilin.org
ffj.bilin@yahoo.com
