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Palestinian arrested and activists assaulted as settlement expands further onto Bil’in’s land
26/05/2008
Source : ISM
On Monday 26th May, Israeli settlers from the Matityahu East settlement, protected by the Israeli army, started construction work looking to expand their settlement further onto the village of Bil’in’s land. Local Bil’in residents, joined by international and Israeli activists, attempted to block this construction. One resident of Bil’in managed to scale one of the settler cranes, placing a Palestinian flag at the top. He remained there for several hours before being forced down and arrested by Israeli police.
Early in the morning Bil’in residents noticed the construction taking place, but were prevented from reaching their land by Israeli soldiers at the apartheid wall that has annexed Bil’in’s land for settlement construction. Some residents had been staying on their land beyond the apartheid wall the previous night and managed to reach the construction site.
One of these Palestinians managed to climb one of the cranes that was placing caravans in the area, halting construction and placing a Palestinian flag at the top. Settlers then assaulted international and Israeli activists who came to protest the construction. Police had to forcibly prevent one from attacking one international activist with a rock.
When settlers attempted a similar action on the 1st January 2008, two of the Bil’in Popular Committee were hospitalised as settlers attacked them for attempting to block the illegal construction.
Permits have been granted to the settlers by the Israeli civil administration despite the Israeli requirements in the first phase of the road-map that the Government of Israel freezes all settlement activity consistent with the Mitchell report, including natural growth. The settlement has just been granted the status of a city.
Eight months after the High Court of Justice ordered the state to dismantle the segment of the separation fence near the Palestinian village of Bil’in within “a reasonable amount of time,” the Defense Ministry has yet to do so. It has not even begun to plan an alternative route there, in accordance with the court’s instruction.
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