8 August 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank and Ni’lin Sons Group
On the 7th of August at 2:30am, 13 military jeeps entered the village of Ni’lin, took control of its southern region, and proceeded towards the nearby village of Qibya to arrest a Palestinian following an aggressive raid the previous night. Locals curious about the raid have yet to ascertain why the man was arrested.
This comes following an incitement to escalate tension by the Israeli military in a raid the previous night at 11:20 pm, when two military jeeps raided the town of Ni’lin from the opposite side of the illegal Israeli separation wall through the adjacent fields, and began firing loud flares into the air, resulting in brush fires across these fields.
“The two military jeeps continued their commute until they reached our houses, and raided the house of Ilayan Mousa and started searching the house in an investigation of Mousa. They left the house after half an hour and no one was arrested. They moved from Mousa’s home to the rest of the village, raiding it and stopping in the middle to shoot tear gas grenades at the people and surrounding homes in the streets,” said one local, Saeed, who lives near the Israeli separation barrier that has been the focus of Ni’lin and other village advocacy campaigns and forms of peaceful resistance.
“The wall encloses Palestinians to limit travel, usurps Palestinian land, is a tool for illegal, Israeli occupation, and is a demeaning symbolic and physical injustice to the definition of freedom,” said an international observer from the United States.
One man was hit in the leg with a tear gas bomb and dozens suffered from tear gas inhalation.
The military jeeps left the town yet a group of approximately 45 Israeli soldier raided the fields near the houses and started shooting tear gas bombs and flare bombs, and stayed there until 02:00 am.
According to locals Israel has raided the village of Ni’lin at least four times a month in the past six months. Locals claim the purpose of the military invasions is clear, harassment with various weaponry and constant investigations and interrogations are two of many variables to incite fear in the villages that peaceful resist illegal Israeli occupation . But the ploy of fear tactics is futile, according to Saeed.
“We never get scared or stop protesting. We are continuing our struggle with a strong will and determination.”