At the weekly demo in Bil’in today Occupation forces once again lashed out at peaceful protesters. As the 100-strong march from the mosque reached the edge of the village the IOF blocked the road and, after announcing the area was a closed military zone on a megaphone, proceeded to beat those who didn’t withdraw with batons. It is the habitual practice of the Israeli military to declare as “closed military zones” areas that Palestinian non-violent demonstrations are taking place.
Undeterred by such violence the villagers tried to continue on their way to the illegal Wall but the IOF brought up reinforcements who chased and beat protesters on the arms and legs. They also fired large amounts of tear gas today. Several people were injured with some needing treatment from the ambulance for arm and leg injuries:
Abdullah Abu Rahme, Popular Committee Member from Bil’in – hand and wrist, needed bandage.
Abid Abu Rahme
Yusef Karaje
Eyal Birnat
Abdul Fateh
Mansour Mansour
Israeli activist injuries – Koby, Neil, Jonathan, Aaron, Sahar, Joval and Nir Shalev whose arm was broken.
Chris – UK
Lina – Germany
Sean – Austria
Iman – US
Somehow I doubt the names and faces of the father and his three teenage boys who were kidnapped by Israeli Occupation Force soldiers tonight in Ramallah will be plastered all over news tomorrow like the face of Gilad Shalit, the kidnapped Israeli soldier.
At about 2am last night we heard there were soldiers in Al Manarra square shooting and arresting people so we went to check it out. By the time we got there the soldiers had left with their four kidnap victims whose names we were unable to find out.
I’m sure once Gilad Shalit is released, there will be a movie made about him. He’ll be the boy-next-door turned national hero who spent two months holed-up in the Gaza tunnels with savage Palestinian militants. No disrespect towards his ordeal, but why are only white people the ones who are made famous and who garner the sympathy of the whole world when they are kidnapped in this region?
After the movie is made, still no one will be able to tell me the names of the dad and his three kids who were kidnapped in Ramallah tonight.
Tomorrow, Friday at 10 a.m. Palestinian students of Al-Najah university of Nablus will demonstrate against the major checkpoint of Beit Furik (near Beit Furik village) which is affecting the inhabitants of several villages in the area. The action will address the occupation’s devastating effects on Palestinian education.
Hundreds of students, employers, teachers, patients, workers, and traders use the checkpoint each day to move between surrounding villages and the city of Nablus. They are often subjected to unnecessary humiliation tactics in addition to long waiting periods and frequent denial of access. In addition to this daily dehumanization, the checkpoint of Beit Furik closes around 6pm in the afternoon and forbids the students of Beit Furik village to go home after finishing their classes at Al-Najah.
After a full month of gruelling cycling, the Peace Cycle finally arrived in the West Bank tonight, September 6th. The cyclists left Damascus 3 days ago and toured the Palestinian refugee camps in the south of Syria before entering Jordan. In both Middle East countries, as in Europe, the group enjoyed courteous treatment and a warm welcome.
The climate changed dramatically, however, once they reached the border between Jordan and the Occupied Palestinian West Bank.
The cyclists arrived at the Jordanian side of the “Allenby Bridge” crossing point at 11.30 this morning local time. On the Palestinian side of the border, their coach and tour guide waited for them…and waited. The cyclists, 21 of them British, two Austrian and one Palestinian, were held at the border by the Israeli authorities and were given no information or explanation, although they were eventually given a sandwich.
Some of the Peace Cycle team as they set off from London
The Palestinian man among the group was taken away and questioned for almost 3 hours before he was allowed to enter the West Bank, where he lives with his family in a village near Ramallah. He had taken part in the Peace Cycle so that he could “tell the world about life under occupation” in his country.
At 6pm the border crossing officially closed for the night, with the remaining group of cyclists still being held in no man’s land between Jordan and Palestine, by a frustrated Israeli border staff who admitted they “just wanted to go home”. Eventually, eight hours later, and after frantic ‘phone calls between the Peace Cycle’s London office and the British Consulate in Jerusalem, the cyclists were allowed through to the Palestinian side of the border. Tired and hungry, they were relieved to finally board their coach and look forward to a meal in El Fa’raa in the north of the West Bank, where the villagers had planned a welcome dinner for them.
However, their relief was to be short lived when they encountered first hand experience of military occupation, just outside the village of El Fa’raa. As their hosts awaited them, the cyclists’ coach was stopped at an illegal Israeli checkpoint just minutes away and the group was told it could not proceed. Spurious explanations were given by the soldiers on duty, and despite ‘phone calls to the Israeli authorities from the British Consulate and an Israeli Knesset (Parliament) member, the peace group was held for 3 hours and then told they would not be permitted to cross the checkpoint, indefinitely.
The group had no choice but to divert to Jerusalem where they will spend the night before attempting to restart their tour of the West Bank tomorrow morning.
Whatever the reason behind today’s appalling treatment of the men and women of the Peace Cycle mission, they are more determined than ever to work for an end to the occupation of Palestine as being the only way to a lasting peace for all people of the Middle East.
For more information, contact Laura Abraham, founder of the Peace Cycle, on +44-(0)-794-1056616.
If you would like to arrange phone interviews with the cyclists at any point please contact TPC Press Officer Claire Ranyard (07801 263322) or Laura Abraham the founder of the Peace Cycle (07941056616) .
For more information visit their website or the following Indymedia UK stories:
http://www.thepeacecycle.org
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2006/08/347165.html
http://publish.indymedia.org.uk/en/2006/09/350167.html
At the weekly Friday demonstration in Bil’in tomorrow the villagers will be marching to the Apartheid Wall that has stolen half of their agricultural land. The march will start from the mosque at 1pm after prayers . As well as protesting against the theft of their land the villagers will be expressing solidarity with all the public sector workers who haven’t been paid in the last 6 months after the international community and Occupation authorities withdrawing financial support and taxes from the Palestinian Authority. In addition the international community, led by the US, has banned foreign banks from transferring money to the PA and other Palestinian institutions.
The Israeli imposed economic strangulation has made Palestine dependent on foreign aid for the provision of basic services such as health and education. Israel collects taxes from Palestinians to be re-paid to the PA, but has refused to do so for the past 6 months. The march in Bil’in tomorrow will express solidarity and unity with all those public servants who have been reduced to living in poverty because of the economic blockade imposed by Israel and the international community. This is the first time in history that an occupied nation has been targetted by such sanctions.
For more inforamtion call:
Mohammed Katib: 054 557 3285
Abdullah Abu Rahme: 054 725 8210
