Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign: Ni’lin demands Palestinian unity

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Ni’lin demands Palestinian unity
Latest News, Palestinian Grassroots Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign, October 24th, 2009

Above: A protestor looks towards the Wall during the demonstration yesterday.

More than 200 demonstrators attended the weekly demonstration against the Apartheid Wall in Ni’lin yesterday. This week the demonstration was calling for Palestinian unity, and the protestors demanded a stop to all factional rivalry and unification against the occupation. ‘The Palestinian people are one, the Palestinian people all live under occupation and we can only overcome if we stand strong as one! This week there was a large number of international solidarity activists, who are currently in Palestine for the olive harvest.

The demonstrators carried a coffin that had statements written on it calling for unity, such as: ‘Palestinian brothers, Unite!’, ‘Stop the bloodshed amongst us’. A number of protestors had put stickers on their body with the same statements. All political parties active in Ni’lin were carrying their flags in the demonstration in order to show the unity amongst them. One participant stated: “In Ni’lin, we have been resisting the Apartheid Wall, the land theft and the aggressive Israeli occupation as one for one and a half years now, we must all follow this path of popular resistance through unity in order to resist the occupation effectively. We are all brothers and we must support each other, otherwise our cause is lost.”

Once the demonstration reached the Wall, they were met with large quantities of tear gas and rounds of rubber coated steel bullets. Israeli soldiers wounded six people. One Norwegian solidarity activist was shot in his arm and received treatment on the spot. A resident of Ni’lin (20 years old) was seriously injured when he was shot in his jaw with a rubber coated steel bullet. He was taken to Ramallah hospital immediately for treatment.

The protesters tried to pull the concrete wall again, shifting a small part of it. They want to send a message for the Occupation government that the Wall will fall soon and will start in the village of Ni’lin. Youth also sent their message by hitting the jeeps with stones while hiding by the concrete.

Occupation forces opened the gates in the Apartheid Wall twice and more than 30 soldiers pursued the protesters towards the village, the youth respond by throwing tear gas canisters and stones at the invading troops. One of the soldiers fired live bullets, and two of the youth were lucky, as the bullets passed close to them. Despite this, youth pushed the soldiers back to the Wall.