Nonviolent demonstrations in Bil'in, Al-Me’sara and Al Khader
16/05/2008
Weekly Bil'in protest: dozens treated for tear gas inhalation
Source : IMEMC
by Ghassan Bannoura
Villagers from Bil’in, located near the central West Bank city of Ramallah, supported by international and Israeli peace activists conducted their weekly nonviolent protest, on Friday midday, against the illegal Israeli wall built on the village’s land.
Protesters carried banners demanding the removal of the Israeli wall, settlements, and calling the international community to help Palestinians retain Jerusalem from the Israeli army.
As is the case each week the protests started after the mid-day Friday prayers were finished in the local mosque, villagers from Bil’in, along with Israeli and international peace activists, marched towards the location of the Wall which is separating the village from its land.
Immediately after the protest reached the gate of the Wall, soldiers showered the protestors with tear gas and rubber-coated steel bullets. Scores of protesters were treated for gas inhalation.
Al Khader village protests the Israeli wall
Source : IMEMC
by Ghassan Bannoura
On Friday midday, the popular committee of Al Khader village—near the southern West Bank city of Bethlehem—held a non-violent demonstration to protest the construction of the illegal Israeli wall, demanding an end to the Palestinians Nakba and recognition of their right of return.
Around 150 Palestinians, internationals, and Israeli peace activists took part in the protest, which started with a prayer near the checkpoint at the entrance of the village.
As soon as the protestors gathered for the prayer, at least 30 Israeli troops blocked the checkpoint, attempting to foil the protest. The protesters marched towards the military barricade and sat in front of it for nearly half an hour. Speeches were delivered and the protest ended peacefully.
Theme of today’s protest was Nakba: "Sixty year of ongoing catastrophe, sixty year of exile; sixty years of neglecting Palestinians’ rights and basic human needs"
Over the last sixty years, thousands of homesick Palestinians have attempted to cross Israel’s barriers, just to see their homes one more time; and thousands have died on Israeli fences, their homes still waiting for them. Between 1948 and 1951 alone, the Israeli army killed 3,000 Palestinians as they tried to cross the border. Nowadays, Israeli soldiers are instructed to shoot Palestinians who attempt to cross the separation wall, a wall that is being built, day by day, on private Palestinian land.
Hundreds join nonviolent anti-wall protest in Al-Me’sara
Source : IMEMC
by Majeeb Farraj
Around 250 Palestinians and Internationals, including 70 Americans demonstrated against the construction of the separation wall on the land of Al-Me’sara village south of Bethlehem on Friday morning.
The protestors wore black T-Shirts, and raised black flags in a mourning sign to commemorate the 60 anniversary of the Nakba, the dispossession of the Palestinian people in 1948.
As the protestors arrived at the construction site of the wall, dozens of Israeli troops lined up and placed barbed wire in order to prevent the protestors to advance closer to the wall.
The protestors set up a tent at the site to resemble the tents the expelled Palestinians of 1948 lived in. Troops assaulted the protestors with their batons, and rifle buts wounding three of them moderately. The three were treated for bruises in their bodes, and were identified as, Mazen El-Azza, Ahmad Hassan and Hassan Zawahra.
A number of speeches were given stressing on the need to continue to resist the wall through nonviolent means, and affirming that the Palestinian people continue to demand their right to return to their land that they were expelled from sixty years ago.
