Tag: Bil’in

Haaretz: IDF – “Reuters reporter risked his life by going to Bil’in”

Original article published in Haaretz on the 19th April 2008, to see click here

The Israel Defense Forces spokesman on Friday said the Reuters writer who was lightly to moderately wounded by IDF fire near the West Bank separation fence in Bil’in put his life in danger by going to the area.

“It upsets us when photographers are hurt, but it should be noted that a photographer or any other civilian that enters a violent, closed military area is putting himself in danger of serious harm,” the IDF spokesperson’s statement read.

The statement also said that “today in the afternoon, around five Israeli civilians came to this area, along with foreigners and Palestinians, with the goal of damaging the fence and harming security personnel. These constitute dangerous, illegal disturbances that require IDF commanders establish a closed military area in the vicinity, and to use the means necessary to prevent an attack on soldiers, border patrolmen and the fence.”

The statement also accused demonstrators of using photographers as “human shields”, and said that some photographers actively encourage disturbances at the demonstrations.

“Today our forces used methods to disrupt the demonstrations that required the use of discriminatory and cautionary force,” the statement read, adding that the IDF will pursue “all means necessary to prevent damage to the fence, whose purpose is to prevent the carrying out of terrorist attacks on Israel.”

On Wednesday, a Palestinian cameraman working for Reuters was killed in the Gaza Strip when he was hit by a Flechette shell fired from an Israel Defense Forces tank, prompting the human rights group B’Tselem to reiterate their demand to discontinue the use of this fatal type of munition.

Fadel Shana, 23, was working for the news agency Reuters filming Israeli tanks when he was killed. Two other Palestinian civilians were also killed in the same incident

Many injured in weekly demonstrations

Road 443 – IMEMC: Several injuries reported during a nonviolent protest near Kharabtha village (for original article click here)

Palestinian sources reported on Friday that several residents were injured after the army fired at residents, Israeli and international peace activists who carried a nonviolent protest against the continued closure of a main road since late 2000.


Picture from IMEMC

Dozens of vehicles drove from the center of the village towards the road while dozens of protesters carried Palestinian flags and chanted slogans against the Israeli occupation.

Soldiers, intensively deployed in the area, placed barbed-wires in front of the protesters and fired rubber-coated metal bullets and gas bombs at them. Dozens received first aid after inhaling gas fired by the army.

The road, known as Latron Road or Road Number 443 in Israeli military terminology, was closed since the beginning of the Al Aqsa Intifada late September 2000, and the army placed concrete blocks and gates on the road to shut it down.

Nearly 35000 residents of villages near Ramallah are negatively affected by the ongoing closure of the road.

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IMEMC: Several protesters injured in Bil’in weekly protest (for original article click here)

On Friday at midday the villagers of Bil’in, a village located near Ramallah in the centre of the West Bank along with their international and Israeli supporters conducted their weekly protest against the Israeli Annexation Wall on the village land.


Picture from IMEMC – Haytham Al Khateb

After Friday prayers, the protesters marched from the village towards the gate of the wall, which separates the villagers from their land.

As soon as the protest arrived at the gate, Israeli troops stationed there showered them with sound bombs, tear gas and rubber coated steel bullets.

A number of civilians were injured, including an Israeli journalist identified as Israel. The man sustained wounds to his leg after being directly hit by a rubber coated steel bullet.

Protests take place in Bil’in and Umm Salamona

Umm Salamona

The weekly demonstration against the wall in Umm salamuna gathered around 50 Palestinians and internationals on the 4th of April.

The peaceful demonstration marched down the main street until it reached the entrance to the town where the Israeli military stopped the demonstrators using marble barbed wire. At the entrance the demonstrators chanted and there where a speech in English and Arabic, where they asked the military to leave so the demonstration could pass, and reach the wall. But the military refused to let the demonstration through. After about an hour the demonstration ended. One person was detained by the soldiers and wasn’t released for around an hour before the demonstrators walked away from the town entrance.

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Bil’in

IMEMC – For original article click here

Ten non-violent protesters were reported injured during the weekly Anti-Wall protest at the village of Bil’in located near the West Bank city of Ramallah on midday Friday.

As the case each week, villagers from Bil’in along with Israeli and international activists marched towards the location of the Wall which is separating the village from its land. As soon as the protest reached the gate of the Wall soldiers showered the protesters with tear gas and rubber coated steel bullets. Medical sources reported that ten protesters suffered gas inhalation.

The village of Bil’in has been protesting the construction of the wall on the village’s land for over three years.

UPDATE: Blake Murphy is deported to the US

Blake Murphy, an American activist from Bedford, MA, working in the West Bank, was beaten and arrested by Israeli army and police forces on Friday 14th March 2008. He has had to face a series of evidently false charges from the Israeli authorities due to his work supporting non-violent resistance to the occupation of Palestine. He was deported to the United States on Friday 21st March after a week in detention. While in custody, Blake has had many of his legal rights abused by the Israeli authorities.

Blake was arrested while attending the weekly demonstration in the village of Bi’lin, where the separation wall annexes much of the Palestinians’ land. Blake was singled out for arrest during the demonstration by the Israeli forces. He was violently assaulted and pepper sprayed before being taken away and subsequently arrested. Blake was then beaten and abused by the soldiers while handcuffed.

Upon arriving at the detention center, after being beaten and sprayed in the eyes with mace, Blake was interrogated while still recovering from the effects of the mace. The police only offered him water to rinse the mace from his eyes, which only makes the effects of the mace worse. There have been days when Blake has been given only bread as a meal.

Injuries inflicted by Israeli solders on Blake Murphy were severe enough that he was taken to the hospital. He appeared in court on the 15th of March, where the judge prolonged his detention until the 18th March. He was told that he would have to reappear in court on the 18th. Blake was woken up on the 18th at 5:00am and taken from the detention center to the court. He was held there for 8 hours, three hours past the time he was told he would appear, locked in a room with only 8 chairs and 15 other people. At the end of this long day, Blake was informed that a mistake had been made and there had never been an appearance scheduled for him on that day. While in custody, Blake has been denied a translator in court, been brought before a judge without his lawyer being informed, and also been made to appear for a trial that was cancelled without him being informed.

Blake Murphy had been working for the last 8 and a half months in the Palestinian Occupied Territories with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM). For over 6 months he was working as the full-time media coordinator for the ISM and was therefore highly involved in supporting Palestinian non-violent resistance towards the occupation. It is for this reason that he was targeted by the Israeli authorities and has undergone such inhumane treatment.

Bil’in Outpost Under Attack

By Kobi

On Friday night one of the Palestinian activist was beaten and threaten with murder by soldiers on patrol at the outpost. ( The outpost is a small room that the villagers of Bil’in built on their land separated from their village by the Apartheid Wall) Damage was also done to the structure and the water tank.

The man needed to get to the hospital but was unable to walk back to the gate towards the village. Following a call by activists the army did evacuate him to the gate from where he was taken to a Ramallah hospital.

5 Israelis attempted to reach the outpost on Friday night but were stopped by the police. Apparently a closed military zone has been declared. It seems that someone might have wanted to take advantage of the situation and join in the attack on the outpost by throwing stones at the peope who were there late Friday night. It was not possible to see who did it though.

Trouble has not stopped at the outpost. Soldiers at the gate are refusing entry to some of the Palestinians and threatening them. Israeli presence is requested to document and deter further abuse by soldiers.