Israeli occupation forces seize protester in Nil'in

Published today (updated) 29/01/2010 21:43

Ramallah – Ma'an –

A demonstrator was arrested by soldiers who shot live ammunition during his apprehension in the West Bank village of Nil'in on Friday, the Popular Struggle Coordination Committee reported.

Israeli occupation forces indicated that they were responding to rock-throwing by protesters, but since the army closed all the village's entrances with checkpoints and forbade the media from entering, Ma'an was not able to independently confirm these allegations.

Dozens of Palestinian and international protestors, including parliamentarian and former Information Minister Mustafa Al-Barghouthi, who chairs the Palestinian National Initiative, reportedly suffered tear-gas inhalation as Israeli occupation forces fired canisters at the crowd, which numbered around 100.

Two paramilitary police officers said they were injured by rocks at the weekly demonstration against Israel's separation barrier, which cuts through the Ramallah-area village to protect a nearby settlement. Demonstrations marking Palestinian Prisoners Day were also held in the nearby villages of Bil'in and Ma'sara.

An urgent fact-finding mission to Ni'lin was held on Tuesday after the Israeli military began what activists have termed an escalation of repression against human rights defenders in the village. The visit was aimed at raising awareness about "the gravity of the attack on the village and the people's fundamental rights of freedom of expression, assembly and association" and, in turn, to extend protection to Ni'lin.

Arrests of human rights defenders in Ni'lin have lead to the detention of 11 people in less than one week, residents reported, and during night raids by the Israeli military in the village inhabitants are subjected to harassment, intimidation and destruction of property. In at least one case, the army arrested the father of a targeted human rights defender to press him to hand himself over.

Barghouthi told Ma'an the detentions against the activists would not break the will of the people to continue their struggle. "Palestinians insist on ending the occupation, which has become a racist occupation," he said. "Israel's repression will not affect their determination."

Palestinian political leaders and 11 European diplomats responded to the invitation to learn more about the ongoing arrests and the situation in Nil'in, which has lost over the last 60 years 48,000 of its original 58,000 dunums of land. The wall on the western side, and a military base on the southern side, will strip Ni'lin of a further 2,500 dunums of land by the time it is completed.

In an interview with Ma'an on Tuesday, Barghouthi said Palestinians will begin asking the European Union to take a stand on what he termed Israeli violence against unarmed demonstrators.

"They tell us – don't use violence, not even in self-defense against terrible Israeli violence," he said. "We will tell them: the EU cannot continue to be impartial. The EU has great leverage over Israel, if they want to use it. The least they can do is stop military cooperation."

According to Khalida Jarrah, a parliament member affiliated with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, "The reaction of the occupation to these activities [in Nil'in] is by killing people, injuring people, arresting people. ..."

She told the 11 EU diplomats that "this message must reach the international community. We haven't seen a strong reaction from the international community. The popular resistance movement is a political movement, which requires a political solution, and political support."

Jarrah concluded by saying the Palestinians' "demands are very simple: to live in freedom."

Fat'h leaders among dozens gassed in Bil'in

Published today (updated) 29/01/2010 22:12

 Ramallah – Ma’an –

Dozen of demonstrators suffered tear-gas inhalation after Israeli occupation forces fired canisters at them during a weekly demonstration in the West Bank village Bil’in on Friday afternoon.

Sultan Abu Al-Einen, member of the Fatah central committee, and Ahmad Assaf, Fat'h spokesman, participated alongside the village's residents. Israeli peace activists and internationals protested in solidarity.

Abu Al-Einen congratulated the residents of Bil’in for their "steadfastness in confronting the settlements and the wall." He affirmed the support of the presidency, the central committee and Fatah's revolutionary council for resisting the wall and settlements.

Demonstrators headed toward the wall, where there was an Israeli force waiting for them. The forces fired stun grenades, tear-gas canisters and rubber-coated bullets at the protesters, injuring Iyad Burnet, the head of the popular committee there, in his hand by a tear-gas canister, and Ahmed Al-Khatib in his back, in addition to dozens of others.