Dozens of activists suffer from tear gas inhalation, crops caught fire in Bil’in

Popular Committee Against the Wall- Today, dozens cases of severe asphyxia because of tear gas inhalation marked the clashes that took place in the village of Bil'in. The villagers marched with Israelian and foreigners peace activists from Brasil, Neetherlands, Great Britain, Spain and Argentina in solidarity against the repression of Israeli occupation forces, against the wall and the settlements built in the village land and against the Zionist occupation.

In the march, called by the Popular Committee Against the Wall, the Settlements and the Occupation from Bil'in, took part Mr. Walid, provisional Palestinian ambassador in Argentina, ambassador Dr. Upholstered, in favor of Latin America and Caribbean assistant foreign minister of the Palestinian Affairs, Mr. Horacio Wamba, Argentinean ambassador in Palestine, and Ms. Cecilia Merchán, head of the parliamentary delegation of Argentina.

The Argentinean ambassador, Horacio Wamba, said he was very proud to share with Parliamentary delegation of his country the weekly demonstration in Bil'in, and also said that this form of resistance is a civilizaded one, which helps the international support of the Palestinian demands to end the occupation, and that he will convey what he saw in Bil'in to the Argentine government.

The participants carried Palestinian and Argentinean flags, pictures of the martyrs Bassem and Jawhaer Abu Rahmah, of Palestinians prisoners in Israelian jails and yellow flags with pictures of prisoner leader Marwan Barghouti.

The demonstrators marched from the village, chanting national watchwords, calling for the unity and for the rejection of differences, confirming the need for the resounding of Palestinian resistance to occupation and the release of all prisoners, and freedom for Palestine.
The march headed towards the wall, where the military occupation army formed a barrier of human soldiers near the gate of the western side of the fence, to prevent demonstrators from entering the land behind the wall. A large number of soldiers deployed on the route of the wall, and a skunk-truck sprayed protesters with chemical water. When protesters try to cross the gate, towards the soldiers, the army fired sound bombs, metal bullets covered with rubber and tear gas, resulting in the dozens of cases of severe suffocation.

The Argentinean parliamentary delegation arrived in Bil’in hours before the demonstration and joined with village’s leaders in Popular Committee Against the Wall, the Settlements and the Occupation, at the headquarters of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) in the village. They watched a film about the popular resistance in Bil'in and listened to a detailed explanation about the village experience in the peaceful popular resistance during the last six years. They also got to know about the achievements of the village committee, about the role of effective international solidarity in the popular resistance in Bil'in and the factors that contributed to the continuing popular resistance for a long time in the village, and the price paid by the villagers.