Tag: Demonstration

On Friday 21st of November a prayer demonstration was held in Ni’lin.

During the demonstration 6 people were injured including one international activist who was shot by a teargas canister in his arm.

Other demonstrators suffered by gas inhalation and rubber coated steal bullets.

During the prayer, two jeeps parked out in the fields close to the site where the prayer was being held. As the demonstrators tried to enter the field on their way to the construction site, the army directly started firing teargas and rubber coated steal bullets in attempt to hit peoples bodies.

The army kept close to the village, firing also at people standing on balconies and rooftops during a couple of hours. After the army pulled back the demonstration was able to enter the fields but was again violently attacked by the army and shot at with live ammunition despite an international presence, violating their own military order. The demonstration started at 11.30am and ended at 5.30pm.

Friday, November 7, 2008

Six residents of Ni’lin and a Danish solidarity activist were injured today by Israeli forces as they demonstrated against the construction of the apartheid wall in the village of Ni’lin. One American solidarity activist was also arrested as the demonstration was coming to an end.

Immediately after a group of 300 Palestinians, accompanied by 25 Israeli and international activists, gathered for a weekly Friday prayer the army began to fire tear gas at those who attempted to enter their land. The canisters being fired were shot directly at the demonstrators, an act which caused multiple of the seven injuries. As the demonstration continued tear gas was not only fired at the Palestinians and internationals attempting to enter the land but also into the village of Ni’lin, away from the demonstration. During the four hour demonstration rubber bullets and sound bombs were also used by the Israeli army.

The Palestinians gathered in this weekly demonstration to attempt to cross their land towards the construction site of the illegal apartheid wall which would annex another 40% of Ni’lin’s land accumulating a loss of around 85% of it’s land since 1948.

The Danish solidarity activist, was taken immediately for treatment in Ramallah after having being shot from close range by Israeli forces with tear-gas cannisters, in the arm. she required 15 stitches to her arm as well as being treated for shock. The six injured Palestinians, one of which was hit in the head with a tear gas canister and badly wounded, were all treated at the local clinic. The American activist was detained by the Israeli forces and remains in custody.

Friday, October 24, 2008

The weekly prayer demonstration in Ni’lin began at 11.15am, when Israeli soldiers began to shoot tear gas at a group of residents attempting to pray on their land. Those praying moved to another spot, where the soldiers continued to shoot tear gas canisters and rubber-coated steel bullets directly at the crowd, which contained many children. They shot from two sides of the people, forcing them to stay amongst the tear gas. The crowd then moved to yet another location, where they held the prayer.

The demonstrators (consisting of around 150 Palestinians and 20 international and Israeli activists) then spread throughout the fields, as the soldiers were shooting tear gas into the air. There were several different groups in the fields: one that remained closer to the village and a group that attempted to march to construction site of the Apartheid Wall. Both groups reunited when the army pushed them close to the Ni’lin clinic. The Israeli soldiers shot directly at the demonstrators and much of the tear gas entered the clinic. Two were injured at the site of the clinic, a Palestinian was shot in the head and an ISM volunteer was shot in the side with rubber coated steel bullets.

After an hour, the soldiers pulled back towards the construction site, but continued to shoot at the demonstrators as they walked back. The demonstrators followed to the hill above the construction site, where they were heavily tear gassed. Once the Israeli soldiers had left, a small group of demonstrators remained and set fire inside a water pipe, damaging the inside metal in the hope that they could delay the building of the wall. Once soldiers arrived at the scene, around 16.00, the demonstration was declared over.
The extreme violence used against the demonstrators in Ni’lin has not deterred their resistance. Several times a week, residents and activists gather to protest the Apartheid Wall. While most demonstrators were tear gassed during the demonstration, many were injured with rubber coated steel bullets. The village of Ni’lin will continue their resistance despite the casualties they suffer.

Thursday, October 23, 2008.

Around 10am, fifty Palestinians along with several international activists, marched towards the olive groves of Ni’lin to protest the construction of the Apartheid Wall.

The demonstrators arrived at the bulldozers and began to shout and throw rocks at the vehicle. After 5 minutes, the Israeli army showed up at the scene and began to fire tear gas and rubber coated steel bullets at the demonstrators. The Palestinians and internationals retreated into the trees but continued to shout against the army. Until 5am, the soldiers continued to shoot at the demonstrators in the fields.

During this time, the soldiers came into the village, near the Ni’lin clinic. They shot rubber-coated bullets and tear gas cannisters directly into the village, several into homes. Most of the demonstrators suffered from tear gas inhalation as a result of the high amount used by the Israeli soldiers, and several Palestinians were shot with rubber coated steel bullets, including one injured with a bullet to his head.

In the West Bank village of Ni’lin, a resistance against the construction of a wall which will confiscate Palestinians’ land continues. The building of the Apartheid Wall will further assist in the deterioration of lives of residents. The Wall will not only steal privately-owned land, but will ensure that Ni’lin residents will be more restricted in their movement, having to pass through a checkpoint to reach other villages.