Friday, October 17, 2008
On Friday 17th October, the village of Ni’lin held a peaceful prayer on their land followed by a demonstration over property that has been annexed by the Israeli government to build the Apartheid Wall. At 11.30, Ni’lin residents held a prayer for the return of their land. Immediately after, around 150 Palestinians along with Israeli and international activists, were shot at with tear gas, sound grenades and rubber bullets.
The Israeli army began shooting at demonstrators around noon and continued to shoot while moving throughout the olive groves until 13.30. The soldiers withdrew to the construction site near a current checkpoint where over 100 settlers where waving Israeli flags and chanting insults on a loudspeaker.
The Israeli army had five jeeps and around 30 soldiers close to the site where three bulldozers were working to build the Apartheid Wall. While the settlers remained at the site, soldiers continued to shoot rubber-coated steel bullets and tear gas from both the construction area and from the olive groves to the side of the demonstrators.
At around 14.00 the bulldozers ceased their construction for the day and the settlers left the site, followed shortly by most of the soldiers. The Popular Committee of Ni’lin then declared the end of the demonstration and demonstrators proceeded to head back towards the village. While most of the 150 demonstrators suffered from tear gas inhalation, it is reported that a total of ten people where injured by rubber bullets. Mohammad Hussain Srour, 22 years old, was shot on his knee by two rubber bullets and taken to the Ramallah hospital.