Tag: Apartheid Wall

Demonstrators call for the end of settlement expansion and arrest campaign on Bil’in residents

20 November 2009

Residents of Bil’in gathered in a demonstration today, commemorating the 21st anniversary of the Declaration of Independence and condemning the ongoing expansion of illegal Israeli settlements.

After the Friday midday prayers, about 150 Palestinian, Israeli and international activists raised dozens of Palestinian flags and posters with the picture of the late Yasser Arafat and chanted slogans calling for the national leadership to keep fighting for the national principles. In a reaction to recent announcements from the Israeli government regarding plans to continue with the construction of 900 new housing units in the settlement of Gilo, they protested against the expansion of illegal settlements in East Jerusalem and the threat this expansion poses for the future Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital. The demonstrators marched to the Wall built on Bil’in’s land, where the Israeli army, based on the other side of the fence, responded to their presence by throwing tear gas bombs and shooting tear gas canisters. Dozens suffered from the effects of tear gas inhalation.

In addition, residents of Bil’in were calling today for the end of the ongoing arrest campaign, which escalated the day before, when a group of undercover Israeli soldiers invaded the village and arrested a local youth, Mohammad Yassin (19), who was targeted for his participation in the weekly demonstrations. They entered the village in a civilian Isuzu pick-up, dressed like Palestinians, and went directly to the workshop where Mohammad works. Before he was arrested, he was beaten by the soldiers, as were his brother and mother. In addition to Yassin, another 27 Bil’in residents were arrested for their involvement in the demonstrations since the 23 June 2009. Among them is Adeeb Abu Rahma, who has been held in detention for more than four months under a charge of ‘incitement’ – organizing demonstrations.

Two injured in anti-wall rally

Ali Waked | YNet News

20 November 2009

Some 400 Palestinians, left-wing activists take part in weekly demonstration against separation fence’s route in West Bank village of Naalin, say IDF violated law by dispersing crowd with sniper fire. Army says protestors were hurling stones.

Two Palestinians were moderately injured Friday afternoon by Israel Defense Forces fire during the weekly rally against the separation fence in the West Bank village of Naalin, southwest of Ramallah. The army said the protesters hurled stones and rioted.

Some 400 protesters, including Palestinians and left-wing Israel and foreign activists took part in the demonstrations. According to the protesters, the IDF violated the law by using live ammunition in the form of “tutu bullets” while attempting to disperse the crowd. The claim has not been confirmed by Israeli sources.

Earlier, the IDF conveyed a message to the protestors that the demonstrations would be handled in an aggressive manner.

The weekly protests, which often end with injuries and sometimes even fatal casualties, have become a routine event every Friday. The rallies usually take place in the villages of Naalin and Bilin, although last Saturday six protesters were detained during an anti-fence demonstration in a village near Tulkarem. At the same time, two protesters and one Border Guard officer were injured in Naalin.

In last week’s incident, protesters also claimed that the security forces reinstated the use of Ruger rifles, which have been deemed live fire by the military prosecution. The IDF confirmed the use of the rifles, which can be used to fire live ammunition with relatively low force.

In June a Palestinian was killed during an anti-fence protest in Naalin, assumedly from ammunition fired from a Ruger rifle. Four additional Palestinians were injured in the incident.

Al Ma’asara demonstrates against the Wall built on the village’s land

20 November 2009

Some fifty Palestinian, Israeli and international demonstrators marched on Friday noon from the center of Al Ma’asara village towards the route of the Apartheid Wall that is to be built on village lands. Like every other Friday, demonstrators were stopped by Israeli soldiers and boarder police who laid barbed wire on the main road leading to the fence, forcefully preventing the march from proceeding. When asked if their actions had any legal basis, soldiers refused to answer.

Protesters then delivered speeches in Arabic, English and Hebrew, and called upon the soldiers to leave their weapons and join the non-violent struggle for two independent states and against war crimes committed by Israel. Slogans were chanted, and the joint drum band, made out of Israeli Qasamba drummers and the village children, played and cheered the demonstrators up.

During the demonstration several children managed to go around the barbed wire, but were pushed back by the soldiers. Some of them then tried to pull away the barbed wire fence with improvised ropes that were then cut by the soldiers. The children, however, did not give up, and eventually succeeded in tearing the fence apart, after which the soldiers decided to step up and physically push the demonstrators and threatened them with arrests.

Bil’in: Undercovers arrest Palestinian youth at his workplace

Popular Struggle Coordination Committee

19 November 2009

In an escalation of the recent arrest campaign conducted by the Israeli military in attempt to crush the popular struggle against the Wall in the village, an undercover army unit invaded Bil’in this morning and arrested a local youth, 19 year old Mohammad Yassin.

In the morning hours of Thursday, 19 November 2009, a civilian Isuzu pickup with undercover soldiers dressed as Palestinians, drove into the village of Bil’in, searching for residents suspected of organizing and participating in the village’s weekly demonstrations. At around 9am, the soldiers arrived at the garage where Yassin works and arrested him. The arrest involved the beating of Yassin himself, as well as of his brother and his mother, who assumed that the disguised soldiers were just random by-passers attacking their kin.

The use of the undercover army units to capture ‘wanted’ people that are suspected of nothing else than participating in and planning of grassroots demonstrations, represent an escalation of the arrest campaign the army is conducting against the residents of the village. In addition to Yassin, another 27 Bil’in residents were arrested for their involvement in the demonstrations since the 23 June 2009. Among them is Adeeb Abu Rahma, who has been held in detention for more than four months under a charge of ‘incitement’ – a euphemism for organizing demonstrations.

Recently, attorney Gaby Lasky, who represents Bil’in’s detainees, was informed by the military prosecution that the army intends to put an end to the demonstrations through use legal procedures against demonstrators. Lasky stated today that “This is a blatant example of political persecution using legal means, because the charges and the arrests are being carried out not for legal purposes but with political motivations. It is important to remember that it is the state that is in contempt of a High Court of Justice ruling, which affirmed two years ago that it is the demonstrators who have justice on their side, and instructed to move the route of the Wall in the area – something that has not been done yet.”

The secretary of the village council and member of the Bil’in Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements, Mohammed Khatib, stated that “the Army is determined to crush the popular resistance but we will continue to demand our rights even if we are all forced to do so from inside military prison cells. Even the Israeli court ruled that the Wall on our land is not legal and has to be dismantled. Despite this, not only has the Wall not moved even an inch, but the Army comes to imprison us for struggling for our land, while it itself is breaking the law – its own law.

IDF uses ‘two-two bullets’ in Ni’ilin clash

The Jerusalem Post

15 November 2009

IDF troops used ammunition equivalent to live bullets against protesters at Ni’ilin on Friday, where a weekly protest by Palestinians and left-wing activists from Israel and abroad is held against the West Bank security barrier.

The military ordinarily only uses protest-dispersal means such as tear gas and a recently introduced “skunk bomb” that is harmless but exudes a pungent stench.

One Border Police officer was lightly wounded in Friday’s clash when he was hit by a rock. He was given preliminary treatment at the scene and later taken to a hospital.

A rioter at Friday’s protest said the military fired ‘two-two bullets,’ small metal pellets similar to those fired by BB guns but of a larger caliber (5.6 mm. vs the BB gun pellets’ 4.5 mm.). The man said ‘two-two bullets’ have not been used against protesters since May.

According to a statement issued by left-wing NGO B’Tselem on July 9, IDF Judge Advocate General Brig.-Gen. Avihai Mandelblit said in response to a query from the organization that “tutu bullets” are not considered a protest-dispersal means.

Mandelblit told B’Tselem in July that the rules for using “tutu bullets” are “restrictive, and parallel to the rules of engagement when using live ammunition.”

The protesters on Friday held signs inscribed “From Berlin to Bil’in,” in reference to the 20th anniversary of the collapse of the Berlin Wall. Bil’in is another Palestinian village that is a hotspot of protests against the barrier.

The IDF confirmed that 5.66 mm. pellets (two-two bullets) were used on Friday. “The use of such ammunition is done against protesters where the use of violence has been ascertained, according to the restrictive protocol followed in incidents such as this,” the IDF Spokesman’s Office said. in a statement.

Meanwhile, near Deir Ghassana (22 km. northwest of Ramallah), the security barrier was reportedly breached when Palestinian, Israeli and foreign demonstrators broke open one of its gates.

The Popular Struggle Coordination Committee said the demonstrators managed to break the lock on the gate by rocking it back and forth, despite the presence of soldiers, who shot rubber-coated bullets and tear gas at the protesters. It said one demonstrator was lightly wounded in the leg by a rubber-coated bullet.