On Friday July 2nd, 2010, dozens of villagers and international solidarity activists suffered from tear gas inhalation as the Israeli Occupation Forces attempted to suppress the weekly protest against the Wall and the settlements in the village of Bil’in (Ramallah District).
During the protest, participants raised pictures of Yasser Arafat and Ahmad Yassin as well as Palestinian flags. Their slogans condemned the Israeli occupation, settlement construction, and demolition of Palestinian houses in Jerusalem. They called for a halt to the policy of deportation and arrest, urging for the release of all detainees and the lifting of the siege on the Gaza Strip. Banners calling for the boycott of Israel were also carried.
After marching through the streets of the village chanting slogans, the protest headed towards the Wall. When the demonstrators tried to cross the confiscated lands located behind the Wall, the IOF fired stun grenades, rubber-coated metal bullets, and tear gas canisters towards the protestors and attacked demonstrators as far away as the outskirts of the village. As a result, dozens of demonstrators suffered from gas inhalation and large agricultural areas belonging to the residents of the village were destroyed by the fires ignited by the tear gas.
In Niâlin (Ramallah District), large pictures of the martyrs Yasser Arafat and Ahmad Yassin were carried in the protest as a message of Palestinian national unity calling for solidarity across factions to face the Israeli Apartheid system.
As usual, the march began after noon prayers. Afterwards, villagers and international solidarity activists marched towards the village lands threatened by confiscation for the construction of the Wall. With loudspeakers, the demonstrators called out to the IOF stationed behind the Wall, telling them that that they stole the land which they were standing on, that it belongs to the people of the town and that they must leave the site. They also urged the release of prisoners who were arrested in attempts to recover the land.