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Two international activists, scores of villagers injured in Bil'in anti-wall protest
June 28, 2008
Source : Ma’an News Agency
Ramallah - Ma’an - Two international solidarity activists were injured by Israeli forces on Friday in the weekly protest against the separation wall in Bil’in, west of Ramallah, and dozens of protesters were treated for tear gas inhalation.
Villagers from Bil’in marched together with international and Israeli solidarity activists after Friday prayers, carrying Palestinian flags and banners demanding the removal of the Israeli wall and settlements and calling on the international community to lift the siege on Gaza and help Palestinians retain Jerusalem. Participants also demanded that the Israeli army stop killing Palestinian civilians and end the use of live ammunition against non-violent protesters.
As they approached the separation wall, Israeli forces prevented the villagers from reaching the gate that is supposed to provide access to their lands, and opened fire on them with tear gas canisters, sound bombs, and rubber-coated metal bullets. Scores of protesters were treated for gas inhalation, and Sean Burg, from the US, and Sean McCurry, from Ireland, were injured by rubber-coated metal bullets.
In addition, on Thursday evening Israeli settlers raided a house built three years ago by the Bil’in Popular Committee for Resisting the Wall on the village’s land near the Matityahu East settlement. The settlers burned part of the house, which was built by the Popular Committee to help villagers maintain access to their lands and olive trees on the other side of the wall, and stole equipment from it. For the past month the Israeli army has prohibited the villagers from staying overnight in house, making it even harder for the villagers to protect their trees and equipment from settler attacks.
Also on Thursday, the Israeli army released Bil’in resident and activist Tariq Muhammad Taufiq Al-Khatib after detaining him for one week for his participation in the weekly protests.
Villagers in Bil’in have been demonstrating every week against the separation wall for the last three years. Despite the 2004 International Court of Justice ruling that Israel’s construction of the wall inside the occupied West Bank was illegal, and a November 2007 Israeli High Court of Justice ruling ordering the military to re-route the wall in Bil’in, the villagers continue to be denied access to the land on which their livelihoods are based.
