Some 150 people from Rafat gathered for a militant protest against the ghettoization of their village. The burst of popular resistance in the area first took the Occupation Forces by surprise, then led them to heavy repression.
***image2***The people from the village gathered around 10:30am at the entrance to Rafat then marched toward the Apartheid Wall that encloses their village. Friday prayer was held outside on the lands.
Shortly after the crowd grouped into a demonstration that marched on the gates of the Wall. Rafat, Deir Ballout and Zawiya will be encircled together and completely isolated from the rest of the West Bank.
The people were able to destroy all three layers of the gates and even smash the surveillance cameras installed along the Wall that enable Israel to control every movement of the people even within the ghetto.
The Occupation forces rushed to defend the racist construction, pumping tear gas into the crowd and shooting both rubber and live bullets at the villagers. The people from Rafat resisted thattack for some time before ending the successful protest that had at least temporarily disabled the gates that strangle their lives.
Shortly after, the Occupation forces invaded the village and arrested three youth in an apparent attempt to take revenge for the protest and to intimidate the villagers. Hamad Allah Khalil, Abdel Wagab Razi and Mohsin Abdel Harim were detained for 10 hours and so seriously beaten that they needed medical assistance on their release. Nevertheless, the people of Rafat are determined to continue their resistance until they have liberated their village and their land.