One Injured, Dozens Treated For Tear Gas In Bil'in

Saturday July 23, 2011 01:47 by George Rishmawi - IMEMC News

A Palestinian journalist was wounded in his right foot in the village of Bil'in near the central West Bank city of Ramallah, on Friday.

International protestors waving Palesitnian flags as Israeli troops fire tear gas (Photo: Hamza Burnat)

Haitham Al-Khatib, cameraman working for the Israeli human rights organization B'tselem was hit by a tear gas canister fired by Israeli troops to disperse nonviolent protestors during the weekly nonviolent protest in the village.

A group of Italian supporters joined the villagers and marched to the land, recently retrieved by the court ruling. When they reached the new section of the wall, Israeli soldiers showered them with tear gas; many were treated for tear gas inhalation. Soldiers also fired live rounds but no injuries were reported. Some trees also caught fire when troops fired tear gas bombs in the fields.

In early July, Israel removed the wall built on villager’s property after six years of weekly protests by the people of Bil’in. The rerouting of the wall gave back the farmers half of the land taken by the military.

ramallah | non-violent action | news report george at imemc dot org