Villager beaten and arrested at Bil’in

02/02/2007

Source : ISM

The theme of today’s weekly demo against the Apartheid Wall in Bil’in was the need to end the internal conflict harming the Palestinian cause. Villagers constructed a scaffold with nooses and wore sheets with slogans such as ‘Palestinian State’, ‘Palestinian Freedom’, ‘Palestinian independence’, and ‘Palestinian dream’. The scaffold bore the sign ‘internal conflict’. Around 100 villagers were joined by 30 Israeli and international supporters.

After reaching the gate in the Wall and chanting anti-Occupation slogans, some villagers separated from the main group to try and dismantle the razor wire forming the first barrier in the Wall. Soldiers responded with the new type of sound bomb that explodes in the air and tear gas.

Meanwhile up by the gate soldiers beat and abducted Farhat Burnat, 26, who managed to get over the gate. He remains in captivity. They assaulted and tried to abduct other villagers but supporters managed to de-arrest them.

The IOF also made liberal use of the aerial exploding sound bombs and tear gas against the peaceful protesters to make them disperse. Some dispersed suffering from the effects of the tear gas but others remained near the gate and resisted the military violence.

One soldier approached a Palestinian and asked him to hold out his hand before throwing a sound bomb at him, which hit his chest before detonating. Altogether five people suffered light injuries from rubber bullets and beatings.

A representative from the German Consulate visited the village and was told about the difficulties resulting from the theft of over half the village’s land.

UPDATE 10.30: Farhat Burnat will be held at Ofer Military Detention Centre for another 4 days on suspicion of ‘assaulting a soldier’. Many Bil’in residents have been abducted and held at Ofer on trumped up charges only to have their cases collapse due to lack of evidence.