***image2***In Bilâin, west Ramallah district, incursions, arrest campaigns, and brutal collective punishment by the Occupation has not stopped villagers from continuing demonstrations and activities against the Apartheid Wall since 2003. On Friday the 11th, hundred of demonstrators from Bilâin marched to their lands isolated behind the Wall. Villagers raised banners and signs against the Apartheid Wall and the policy of ghettoization and expulsion. Other signs called for applying the ICJ decision to tear down the wall.
The demonstration, part of national and international week against the Apartheid Wall, began as villagers marched on the bulldozers which are currently destroying their lands on a daily basis. Wall construction was disrupted and Occupation Forces arrived in large number, firing tear gas and using sticks to beat and hit people.
Demonstrators were not deterred by the violence and continued their march. Villagers came again to the site where the bulldozers were working them, forcing them to halt their work. Occupation Forces increased their brutality and unleashed rubber bullets upon the demonstrators.
Clashes continued until 7:00 pm leaving several Palestinians injured by the rubber bullets and choked by tear gas. One 16 year old, Mohammad Solliman, was seriously injured by a bullet to the head and was rushed to Ramallah hospital for treatment.
Bilâin organizes weekly demonstrations on each Friday since the Occupation began building the Apartheid Wall in 2003. Their resistance has been met with perpetual brutality, a wave of arrest campaigns and regular invasions into the village. Steadfastness to their lands and a refusal to ever accept the Wall, has epitomized the spirit of resistance which continues to get stronger in Biliân.
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