10 June 2011| Popular Struggle Coordination Committee
The village of Biddu held a demonstration this week demanding access to their farmlands and a end to the Separation Wall in their village. In 2004, four demonstrators were shot dead by live ammunition in a similar demonstration.
Roughly 50 people gathered near an Israeli placed gate at the edge of the agricultural lands of Biddu on Friday for an unarmed demonstration. Quickly the demonstration turn into chaos as Palestinian youth threw rocks and the Israeli army responded with tear gas and stun grenades. No injuries were reported in the course of the demonstration, which lasted for several hours. In 2004, four unarmed demonstrators were shot dead in Biddu by live fire from Israeli soldiers. In recent years, demonstrations in the village have been all but non-existent.
Injuries suffered by a 60 year old female American activist.
Sandra Quintano, An American 60 year-old women working with the Michigan Peace Team, was evacuated to an Israeli hospital this afternoon, after Israeli soldiers caused her a serious head injury as they demolished a protest tent in the West Bank village of Izbet al-Tabib near Qalqilya. A Swede and two British activists were arrested during the protest. To download a video of the incident, click here.
Israeli soldiers, accompanied by bulldozers and other heavy machinery entered the village of Izbet al-Tabib south of Qalqilya earlier today, to demolish a protest tent set up only yesterday by the villagers and begin the construction of a fence that would cut the villagers off from Highway 55 and of their agricultural land.
During the eviction of the tent, the soldiers violently arrested two British activists and a Swedish activist. They also caused a bleeding head injury to a 60 year-old American woman. She also suffered blows to her wrist, which is suspected to be broken. She was evacuated to an Israeli hospital.
Nonviolent protester after being injured by Israeli soldiers.
The violent arrests were made solely under the pretext of declaring the area a “closed military zone”. However, the soldiers and Border Police officers carried out the arrests without having shown any document declaring the area as such, as the law requires them to do. The three are still in custody and are currently held at the Ariel police station.
During today’s protest, Bayan Tabib, the head of the village council, has received a promise from an Israeli Civil Administration officer, that the fence will only be erected on the far end of Highway 55, thus not cutting off the village’s access to the road or their land. Tabib attributed the promise to today’s protest, saying the “The protest today is the only reason that they agreed to move the fence.”
The village of Izbet al-Tabib, which consists of 45 structures and is home to 247 residents, was built in the 1920’s and is located entirely in area C according to the 1995 Interim Agreement (Oslo II). Israeli authorities do not recognize the village and 32 out of its 45 houses, as well as its school, have been served demolition orders in recent years. Izbet al-Tabib is the fifth poorest village in the West Bank and villagers have already lost 45% of their land due to the construction of Israel’s Separation Barrier.
Village land between highway 55 and Izbat Al Tabib
The village of Izbat Al Tabib outside Qalqilya is currently being threatened by the creation of a wall, which will annex 1000 square meters of their agricultural land. The village is situated right next to highway 55, and under the pretext of preventing stones being thrown onto the highway, the Israeli Civil Administration plans to build two walls, between which will be a buffer zone of Palestinian land. This will separate Izbat Al Tabib from the highway annexing vital agricultural land.
The army is planning to begin constructing the wall on 1st May. Villagers received the notice on 3rd April and were given two weeks to file a complaint. Their complaint was rejected on 23rd and they plan to take it to the Supreme Court on 28th. The army has also recently began entering the village and making arrests.
The village, which contains 45 houses and is home to 247 inhabitants, was built in the 1920’s and is located in area C. The village is not recognized by Israel and 32 out of 45 houses, and a school, have been served with demolition orders. Due to its location, Izbat Al Tabib is extremely isolated: it is the fifth poorest village in the West Bank and villagers have already lost 45% of their land to the illegal annexation wall. Farmers are forced to apply for permits to access areas of their land which are located near to the highway, however these are rarely given and when they are it is only to one farmer at a time.
In 1997 Israel attempted to make the east of the village into an industrial zone, however the village resisted this with demonstrations and after six months plans were dropped.
During the weekly demonstration five people were injured and dozens suffered from server cases of asphyxia from tear gas. Hundreds of Palestinians joined by Israeli and international solidarity actives marched under the banner of unity and an end to the occupation. Today’s demonstration marked six years of struggle in the village against the wall and the occupation. In that time, Bil’in has become an international symbol of unarmed resistance to Israeli Occupation. Entering the seventh year of resistance, the village called for Palestinian unity and end to the Israeli Occupation, the longest military occupation in modern history.
The demonstration began after midday prayer with a march under Palestine flags and pictures of Jawaher and Bassem Abu Rahmah, who have been killed in demonstrations in Bil’in. Protesters also carried photos of the imprisoned popular committee leader Abdallah Abu Rahmah, who has been in jail for the past 14 months. The demonstrators marched from the village chanting for national union., Demonstrators also confirmed the need for a resounding Palestinian resistance to occupation and the release of all prisoners, and freedom for Palestine.
The march headed towards the barrier, where the military forces of the Israeli occupation army had created a barrier of human soldiers near the gate of the wall of the western side of the fence to prevent demonstrators from entering the land behind the wall, where a large number of soldiers were deployed. Within minutes, soldiers began spraying demonstrators with sewage water mixed with pertochemcials. When protesters tried to cross the barrier towards the soldiers, the army fired sound bombs and bullets coated metal bullets as well as tear gas. Soldiers then began to fire live bullets (.22 caliber) in all directions. Hamza Suleiman Bernat (18 years old) was shot in the back and the leg. He was taken away from the protest and to a Ramallah hospital for treatment. Ahmed Abo Rahma (16 years old) was burned by tear gas canister. Fadi Mustafa Omar (30) and Abdullah Ahmed Yassin (19 years) where sprayed directly in the face with pepper spray by soldiers during the demonstration. Dozens of other demonstrations suffered from tear gas inhalation.
Woman marching in Bil'in this afternoon. Picture Credit: Oren Ziv/Activestills.org
Hundreds march in Bil’in to commemorate Jawaher Abu Rahmah, the 36-year-old woman who was killed last week in an unarmed demonstration against the separation wall. The former vice president of the European Parliament, Lusia Morgantini and a current Israeli Parliament member Mohammed Barakeh (Hadash) joined the demonstration which was lead by over thirty women’s organizations from the West Bank and Israel. During the protest, demonstrators managed to tear down portions of the barrier.
Hundreds of Palestinians, Israelis and internationals marched today in Bil’in to commemorate the killing of Jawaher Abu Rahmah and protest Israel’s separation wall and land annexation in the village. Jawaher –the 36-year-old sister of Bassam Abu Rahmah, who was killed in 2009 when Israeli soldiers fired a high velocity tear gas canister directly at his chest– was laid to rest in Bil’in last Saturday after dying from complications stemming from tear gas inhalation. Over thirty women’s rights organizations from across the West Bank and Israel mobilized in the demonstration and called for an end to the use of tear gas to crush demonstrations. Before the protest even started, the Israeli military set up ‘flying checkpoints’ at all the entrances to the village. Hundreds of Israeli and international supporters were forced to hike through the hills surrounding the village in order to reach the demonstration.
Outrage over the death hung in the air as the demonstration left the center of the village’s square towards the area of the wall. Unlike last week, when the army set up a barricade, hundreds of demonstrators were able to reach the area of the wall and subsequently began chanting and pulling on the fence. Parts of the fence were successfully dismantled by protesters in accordance with the Israeli Supreme Court’s decision that the route of the wall must be moved from Bil’in’s lands.
After thirty minutes, the army opened fire on the demonstrators, among them Israeli parliament members and European diplomats, with a petro-chemical dubbed the ‘skunk’. The foul smelling water was shot directly at demonstrators, press and diplomats. If hit by skunk water, the smell can be on your skin and clothing for up to two weeks.
Not content with skunk water, the army resorted to firing tear gas at all corners of the demonstration. Hundreds ran back to the village as wave after wave of the poisonous gas covered Bil’in’s agricultural fields. Clashes erupted between soldiers and village youth as the tear gas continued to fall on the demonstration. Youth managed to throw tear gas canisters back on soldiers as the afternoon deepened and rain clouds appeared on the horizon. The protest was attended by large numbers of international press including film crews from the BBC and Fox News. The protest ended with multiple people being treated fo tear gas inhalation.
Nearly six years have passed since residents of Bil’in, together with their Israeli and international supporters, started regularly demonstrating against the Wall and the confiscation of more than half their land by it. It has been more than three years since the Israeli High Court ruled that the path of the Wall must be changed as soon as possible, and the people of Bil’in have waited long enough.
