Medic beaten, youth destroy fence in Ni’lin
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Medic beaten, youth destroy fence in Ni’lin

***image2***More than 200 people participated in the protest that the Ni’lin popular committee organizes every week on Friday. The people of Ni’lin performed the Friday prayer on the land next to the Ni’lin health clinic, where Imam Salah Mohammad Tayeh praised late Palestinian leader and symbol Yasser Arafat and the martyrs of Ni’lin and said that their blood will not be forgotten and Ni’lin will continue what they have started.

After the prayer the people of Ni’lin, accompanied by international and Israeli activists, marched to the Wall carrying Palestinian flags and posters of the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, calling for Palestinian unity and an end to the Israeli policies of violence and aggression against the Palestinian people.

Ibraheem Amera, coordinator of the Ni’lin popular committee, said that the Israeli violence and killing will not prevent the people of Ni’lin from continuing there struggle and resistance. “We will not stop what our leaders started”, he said, “and today we say to the leader Yasser Arafat and to the martyrs of Ni’lin that we will continue what you started.”

One of the youth from the village added: “Ni’lin has really stepped up the resistance, we’ve gone beyond protesting and just shouting to tear down the Wall, we’ve actually mentioned to bring down the Wall ourselves. Not just in Ni’lin, but also in Qalandiya and this will soon spread throughout the whole West Bank. We, as Palestinians, are determined more than ever, to have our rights as human beings acknowledged, no matter how long it will take and what we need to do for it. “

Amera also stated that the popular committee had been informed this week that the Israeli military wants to ‘crush the struggle in Ni’lin’ and that therefore, organizers urged demonstrators to be extra cautious. He believes that this decision was made by the Israeli military, because in Ni’lin the Wall has been taken down twice already by the people, and after the fall of the wall in Qalandiya, the Israeli military is afraid that the ‘Ni’lin Falling Wall Virus’ will start to spread throughout the whole West Bank.

These rumours were confirmed shortly after the demonstration reached the Wall. A huge army of Israeli soldiers was awaiting them and immediately started fire huge amounts of tear gas, rubber coated steel bullets and also live ammunition. However, a group of youth managed to cut up parts of the fence and partially damage the gate. Then the army surprised them by coming into the fields from three different sides, closing in on a group of around 100 demonstrators. The army was shooting live ammunition from a distance of less than 3 meters. The crowded dispersed and two people sustained minor injuries from grazing shots. One medical volunteer was beaten up by an Israeli soldier. An eyewitness said: “A soldier ran up to the volunteer of PRCS, grabbed him by the neck and pushed him to the ground, then the soldier started beating him. The volunteer sustained no serious injuries, except for some bruises.”

When the soldiers were not able to catch any of the demonstrators, they retreated and waited for demonstrators to go back to the village. The demonstration came to end around 4.30 pm.

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Report and photos Ahmad Mesleh – Ni’lin Youth Center