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Ramallah / PNN – During the weekly nonviolent demonstration in Bil’in Village, Israeli soldiers brutally attacked the crowds, injuring 17 people, including seven journalists. The villagers left the mosque after Friday prayers today in a massive march called by the Popular Committee to Resist the Wall in the village to mark the thirty-second memorial of Palestinian Land Day. Among the foreign supporters was the family of Rachel Corrie, the American girl killed by an Israeli bulldozer in Rafah, 2003. The demonstrators took to the village streets chanting slogans denouncing the occupation, and headed towards the Wall. After crossing to their land the army sealed gate and waited behind cement blocks They then suppressed the nonviolent march by using tear gas and rubber-coated steel bullets, wounding 17. The Popular Committee to Resist the Wall in Bil'in reported that among the injured were several journalists, including Guevara Budeiri of Al Jazeera, a Kuwaiti correspondent, a photographer, a journalist with an Iranian television agency, a sports photographer, and several others: Mohamed Ali Abu Sadin, Wael Fahmi, Iyad Bernat Chairman of the People's Pact, Huwaida Arraf one of the founders of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), Issa Abu Rahma, Abdullah Ahmed Yassin, Mohammed Ahmed Hamed, Ibrahim Abdel-Fattah Bernat, Abdel Raouf Abu Rahma and Abdullah Mohamed Yassin. Demonstrators were holding banners that reflected their rejection of Israeli occupation, and the desire to unite to face land confiscation. “We stand shoulder to shoulder in the face of the colonialist cancer,” one demonstrator’s banner read. They were also talking about the hope for the collapse of the Wall, the release of political prisoners from Israeli prisons, and Palestinian Land Day. The demonstrators called on the participants in the Arab Summit to take seriously the situation, and to transit from words to deeds, as the people live under siege and starvation, killings and confiscation of land and building of settlements, barriers and grave Israeli violations on Palestinian lands. Craig Corrie, Rachel’s father, cited Rafah and his continuing support for the Palestinian people. “I am in Bil’in for the second time. This village has become a symbol of nonviolent resistance. I call for solidarity with the people of Palestine in resisting the conditions imposed by the Israeli occupation to prevent the establishment of their state.” Rachel’s mother, Cindy Corrie, said, “We talked about the suffering of the Palestinians during our visit two years ago. We were in Israel two days ago, and we saw how life is easy there. We always compare between the life there and here. It is difficult for us to forget.” |