Illegal Israeli Land-Grab, Apartheid Wall Protested for Four Years Despite Tear Gas, Clashes with Israeli Occupation Forces

PPP organizes a protest against the Wall in Azzoun Al Atma

Saturday June 20, 2009 00:05 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC News

The Palestinian People Party (PPP) organized on Friday a protest against the Israeli Annexation Wall in Azzoun Al Atma village, near the northern West Bank city of Qalqilia.

Several popular figures and international activists participated in the protest, demanded Israel to remove the Wall and end its illegal occupation of Palestine.

The protestors chanted for national unity and called on all factions to remain steadfast until achieving the Palestinian legitimate demands of independence and statehood.

They also called for reforming and reactivating the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO).

The residents gathered in the town before marching towards the Annexation Wall. Nael Salmi, secretary of Qalqilia governor, member of the PPP Central Committee, was one of the speakers during the protest and called for unity.

Qalqilia governor, Rizq Abu Nasser, stressed on the importance of popular resistance against the illegal Israeli Wall, settlements and the occupation.

The PPP said that protests against the Wall in Qalqilia would be conducted every wee,k similar to nonviolent protests in Ramallah and other West Bank districts.

Four and a half years on, Bil'in protesters again brave tear gas

Date: 19 / 06 / 2009 Time: 19:43
Bil’in – Ma’an –

More than 200 Palestinian, international and Israeli demonstrators braved clouds of tear gas to register their opposition to the Illegal Israeli Land-Grab, Apartheid Wall in the West Bank village of Bil’in, near Ramallah, on Friday.

As they have every week for more than four and a half years, the protesters marched from the village center after the Friday Muslim prayer to the barrier, which separates the villagers from more than 60 percent of their land.

Young and old marchers waved flags, sung, and chanted slogans in Arabic, English and occasionally Hebrew demanding peace and an end to the occupation. (One chant goes "Oh Abbas, Oh Haniyeh, we want national unity," which rhymes in Arabic.)

Upon reaching the barrier, which at this stage is still a pair of barbed wire fences, young Palestinian men managed to wrench open a gate and clear away a tangle of barbed wire, getting them through one layer. Israeli soldiers and police in riot gear were waiting on the other side.

Organizers repeatedly shouted to the marchers, "No one throw stones!", which teenage boys from the village ignored, and soon began raining rocks on the soldiers, who protected themselves with shields.

A handful of protesters set fire to rubber tires, sending a plume of black smoke into the air. The soldiers responded with tear gas. After an hour of exchanging gas canisters and rocks, the soldiers fired a broadside of dozens of canisters into the air, streaking white gas across the sky and sending the majority of the protesters running back toward Bil'in.

No one was reported physically injured at Friday’s demonstration, although dozens choked on tear gas, including two Ma'an reporters. Two months ago a Bil'in protester, Bassem Abu Rahmeh, was killed when an Israeli soldier shot him in the chest with a high-velocity gas canister. On Friday some demonstrators carried metal shields plastered with Abu Rahmeh’s photo.

In 2007, the Israeli High Court of Justice ruled that the military must reroute the wall further from the village, a decision that the demonstrators are still pushing to be implemented.

But according to Iyad Burnat of Bil'in's Popular Committee Against the Wall, "This is not our goal – to move the wall 500 meters back. We want to remove the wall. It’s illegal for Israel to build this settlement on our land. We want to end this settlement."

Bil’in is also suing two Canadian companies, Green Park International and Green Mount International, in a Quebec court over their involvement in constructing, marketing, and selling homes in the settlement of Modi’in Illit on land seized from Bil'in. Burnat said a ruling is expected in that case on 22 June.

Bil’in is one of several villages that hold weekly demonstrations along the barrier’s route. In reality, the wall is a network of walls, fences, watchtowers, and electronic sensors snaking through the interior of the West Bank. When completed, it is planned to be 723 kilometers long. The International Court of Justice ruled it illegal in 2004.

After more than 225 weekly protests, Burnat said that Bil'in plans to keep marching until they win their land back. "Bassem’s death won’t stop us, because we need peace. Our message to the world is that this is not a security wall, this is a way of expanding settlements. If it was for security, why not build it on the '67 line?"

Israel: Soldiers lightly injured by stones in Ni'lin

Date: 19 / 06 / 2009 Time: 15:43
Ramallah – Ma’an –

Hundreds of Palestinians joined by international peace activists participated in the anti-wall rally in the West Bank village of Ni’lin near the city of Ramallah after the weekly Friday prayer.

Demonstrators chanted slogans denouncing the occupation and the construction of the wall because of which more than 2,500 dunums of the village’s lands were confiscated. More than 90% of the land of the village has been confiscated since 1948.

Clashes erupted as the protestors arrived at the construction site of the wall. No injuries were reported.

Israeli sources said that three Israeli soldiers were slightly injured after being hit with stones during the clashes in Nil’in west of Ramallah.

Israeli soldiers attack the Nil'in's weekly protest

Friday June 19, 2009 17:27 by Ghassan Bannoura - IMEMC News

Israeli occupation soldiers attacked Palestinian and international peace activists during the weekly non-violent protest against the wall in Ni'lin village, west of the central West Bank city of Ramallah, on Friday.

After the midday prayers the villagers, along with their supporters, marched towards the village lands where Israel is building the illegal Land-Grab, Apartheid Wall.

The protesters demanded the halt of the Israeli illegal settlements and the construction of the wall.

As soon as the crowd reached the lands, troops attacked them with tear gas. Scores were treated for the effects of tear gas inhalation.

Later Israeli soldiers attacked the protesters with batons, then clashes erupted between local youth and the armed soldiers, no injuries were reported.

The Israeli military attack Bil'in weekly protest

Friday June 19, 2009 17:25 by Ghassan Bannoura - IMEMC News

Dozens suffered from gas inhalation when Israeli troops attacked the weekly protest in Bil'in village near the central West Bank city of Ramallah on Friday afternoon.

Residents of Bil'in and their international and Israelis supporters marched from the village center after the Friday midday prayers.

The protesters demanded the halt of the Israeli illegal settlements and the construction of the wall. As the protesters arrived at the wall, Israeli troops at the gate nearby fired a barrage of sound bombs, tear gas and rubber-coated bullets.

After the protest ended troops set fire to olive crops located near the Palestinian side of the gate of the wall, a number of olive trees were damaged.

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