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Three solidarity activists arrested, three villagers wounded and dozens of people asphyxiated by tear gas in the Bil'in Weekly Protest
18/06/2010
by Bil’in Popular Committee
Three villagers were wounded today, three activist were arrested, and there were dozens of cases of suffocation as a result of the inhalation of tear gas, in the village of Bil’in. The Israeli Occupying Army once again acted to the suppress the weekly march against the wall and settlements which was attended by Israeli and international peace activists.
The village of Bil’in, along with the peace activists, participated in the march called by the Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements in Bil’in. The participants in the march raised Palestinian flags and banners condemning the policies of occupation and settlements, as well as some which condemned the attacks on Palestinian homes in Jerusalem. They called for a halt to the Army’s campaign of arrests in the West Bank, while demanding the release of all prisoners and the lifting of the siege on the Gaza Strip.
The demonstrators marched in the village, chanting slogans of national unity and calling for the setting aside of differences. They affirmed the need to uphold Palestinian steadfastness, to continue the resistance to the occupation, and demanded the release of all prisoners. They chanted slogans condemning the Army’s violence in Gaza and the siege of the Strip.
The protest headed towards the wall, where military forces of the Israeli occupation army awaited them at the concrete blocks behind the gate in the barrier which was closed shut with barbed wire. When the demonstrators tried to cross towards their lands behind the wall, the army fired sound bombs and bullets, metal coated bullets, and tear gas at them. They chased the protesters to the outskirts of the village.
Three people were hit by tear gas cannisters: Mohammed Maher Yassin (14 years) in his face, and his brother Jasser Maher Yassin (21 year) in his leg, and Yassin Mohammad Yassin (21 years). The Army arrested Tal Shapira (25 years), Jal Lukasi ( 22 years) and a British activist. There were dozens of cases of suffocation from tear gas, and vast agricultural areas belonging to a large number of people of the village of Bil’in caught fire and burned as a result of the tear gas volleys against the demonstrators. A large part of the village was flooded with a barrage of tear gas.
The Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements in Bil’in also deplored the formation of an Israeli commission of inquiry into the governments actions against the Flotilla Fleet to Gaza which ignores the international call for the formation of an international commission to investigate these crimes. They issued a call to the people of the international community to exert pressure their governments to agree to an international impartial commission.
In other news, the administration of Ofer Central Prison continued to deprive Abdullah Abu Rahma, coordinator of the Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements, of visits from his family because of his meeting with Al-Jazeera during the court hearing on 05.05.2010. Abdullah Abu Rahma was detained in Ofer Central Prison on 10.12.2009 and since then until now his family and his children have not been allowed to visit him in prison.
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