Some 250 Palestinians, Israelis and Internationals demonstrated today in the West Bank village of Bil'in against the Apartheid Wall and the settlements built on Palestinian land. Prior to the demonstration a press conference took place, where a representative of the village's popular committee, a member of the Palestinian Boycott National Committee and world renowned Canadian journalist and author Naomi Klein spoke of the local struggle, of the village's new court case in Canada against Canadian companies building the new neighborhoods on Bil'in land, on the boycott, and of the inability to detach art and politics.

Following the press conference and the Friday prayer demonstrators marched towards the illegal fences build on the village's agricultural lands, and were met with an unprovoked tear-gas attack by the Israeli Occupation Forces. The demonstration went on for about an hour, facing levels of violence that were lower than the usual, perhaps due to Klein's visit, or to Israeli attempts to impress US President Obama to "prove" Israeli interest in peace. The demonstration ended as the IOF used its new tear gas canon, shooting 25 gas canisters in a second.
No serious injuries were noted.

Bilin - June 26 2009

Some 10 Israelis and 30 internationals joined a few dozen Palestinians for the weekly demo in Maasara/Um Salmuna. The demo marched towards the barbed wire set by the army (which advances Salami-style into the village from time to time) carrying a huge Palestinian flag. The demonstrators stood at the barbed wire, and chanted and made speeches in Arabic, English and Hebrew, led in part by Um Hassan, who took the place of her arrested and court-order-restrained sons.

Maasara - June 26 2009

When the soldiers started harassing a couple of photographers standing at the vine plot next to the barbed wire some protesters went to sit there in protest. A few minutes later the army declared a closed military zone and threatened arrests. The army then detained the most outspoken international activist, and after the demonstration was declared over, also an Israeli demonstrator, who demanded the release of the detained international, and who had gotten on the officer's bad side by making a highly impressive speech to the soldiers linking the oppression of Israeli workers and Palestinian villagers. The soldiers pushed the demonstrators who remained in the area into the village, and then backed off, released the detainees, and left the village.

Maasara - June 26 2009

Dozens of protestors gathered today in the village of Ni'ilin. This week, as of in the last two – the army has not entered the village. The demonstrators once again arrived at the fence, while some of them even managed to cut parts of the barb wire surrounding it. Again, similarly to last week, the army has decided to use relatively little force in dispersing the demonstration – some tear gas salvos were shot at the demonstrators, and the soldiers did not cross the fence. The demonstration ended without injuries. Later that day, some Israeli media reported that a senior deputy to Israel's attorney general was present at the scene – which explained the army's relative restraint.

Nilin - June 26 2009Nilin - June 26 2009