Palestinian farmer critically wounded by Israeli army gunfire in Bil’in
A Palestinian young man was wounded by Israeli army gunfire in the village of Bil’in near the northern West Bank city of Ramallah on Wednesday afternoon.
Eyewitnesses told IMEMC that Wa’am Burnat, 18 was wounded as he was working in his family’s farmland in the village. Apparently Burnat came near the wall, Israel is building on the village’s land, when the troops shot him.
Burnat received at least five bullets to his, legs and thigh, and was detained by the soldiers for around half an hour. Local sources said that troops banded his wounds to stop the bleeding, until he was taken by the Palestinian Red Crescent Ambulance to Sheikh Zaid hospital in Ramallah where he is being operated on. HIs condition was described as serious as he lost a big amount of blood.
Relatives of Burnat confirmed that he was shot by unprovoked fire and that the situation in that area was extremely calm. Eyad Burnat, head of the Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements in Bil’in told IMEMC over the phone that the Israeli army open fire at any moving object that comes near the wall in most cases. He added that the soldiers revenge from the residents of Bil’in because of their ongoing nonviolent resistance to the wall.
The village of Bil’in has been conducting weekly nonviolent protests since three years in bid to prevent the construction of the wall on their land. Few months ago, the Israeli High Court ruled a shift of the route of the wall releasing almost half of the confiscated land.