***image2***Bilâinâs Friday demonstration met with severe Occupation attacks this week as over 500 people marched to the lands isolated by the Apartheid Wall. Each demonstrator carried a Palestinian flag to symbolize the united front of the national liberation struggle against the Occupation. Representatives of political parties and members of the Palestinian Legislative Council joined the demonstration in which Soldiers wounded 10 people.
More than 500 people all bearing national flags marched from the village mosque to their lands now isolated from their owners. United around the national struggle, demonstrators denounced the Apartheid Wall and the Occupation. As soon as the protest reached the razor wire positioned close to the Wall, Occupation Forces charged at the demonstration and attacked protestors with sticks and gun backs.
Palestinians continued to surge towards the Wall determined to tear down the Apartheid structure. Soldiers then unleashed a mixture of sound bombs, rubber and live bullets and tear gas into the crowd. The village youth defended the demonstration and their land with stones.
The attacks of the Occupation beat the protesters back to the village and injured 10 people in the process. Four were left seriously wounded. Muhammad Jamal was hit by a tear gas canister to the head. Wajdi Shawkat took a tear gas canister fired into his chest, while Adeebi Hussain, 60 years old, was hit by a rubber bullet in her head. Hussain was in her house in Bilâin at the time and received the bullet as Occupation Forces stormed the village. Two journalists were injured including the correspondent for Al-Ayyam newspaper whose hand was broken by a rubber bullet.
Uprooting of the village land began in February 2005. The Occupation has stolen over 2500 dunums of the villageâs land for the Wall and for the expansion of the Zionist colonies of Modâin Illit and Mattityahu. Resistance in the village continues to be strong with Palestinians refusing to ever accept the Wall and Israeli Apartheid.
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