International Solidarity Movement
2 February 2010
At 3 am 26 soldiers entered the village of Bilin on foot to arrest Ibrahim Abed El Fatah Bornat. On their way to Ibrahim’s house, the soldiers ran into Ashraf Abu Rahmah. A gun was pointed to his head, his hands cuffed behind his back and a cloth attached to his mouth to prevent him from alarming people. Ashraf was distanced from the scene and left in the dark, guarded by soldiers while Ibrahim was arrested and taken away.
At 3.30 am a military convoy of seven jeeps entered Bilin to search the house of Ibrahim’s family. A computer, a pair of shoes, a cap and several documents, all belonging to Ibrahim’s brother Mohammad, were confiscated. While the search went on, cameramen and photographers were held back from the scene by soldiers and border police claiming the area to be a closed military zone. The captain held a paper in Hebrew, supposedly supporting the claim of this area to be military closed. Everyone was withheld for a 50 meter perimeter surrounding the house. When asked to have a closer look at the paper, the captain denied and pushed everybody back under threat of arrest.
While Hamde Abu Rahmah, a journalist from Bilin, approached to take a picture, soldiers violently attacked him and placed him under arrest. When an international journalist, tried to interfere to protect Hamde Abu Rahmeh, she too was arrested. Both were cuffed and taken away in a jeep.
At approximately 4:30 am the convoy left the scene.