Saturday, 3 January 2009
Bethlehem - Ma'an - In another demonstration on Friday in the village of Bil'in, Palestinian, international, and Israeli activists carried Palestinian flags and banners in a weekly march against the Israeli separation wall.
Participants carried flags of Palestinian political parties as an invitation for national unity and abandonment of internal fighting "in order to resist the Israeli occupation."
The demonstrators also carried symbolic coffins representing Palestinian children and citizens killed during the Israeli attacks on Gaza. Posters of Ehud Almurt, Tzipi Livni, Ehud Barak and George Bush were waved, with one saying, "Enough killing, vampires!"
Protesters marched through the streets of the village singing national songs and chanting condemnations of the Israeli attacks on Gaza. The protest continued to the Israeli separation wall in an effort to go through the gate and reach land confiscated behind it.
But Israeli soldiers were standing behind concrete blocks, where they apparently tested a new weapon called "the scream," which sends subsonic waves that seem to affect the inner ear and cause bodily imbalance.
The army then fired teargas, causing dozens to suffer gas inhalation, and a round of rubber-coated bullets.
Soldiers also used a new weapon, which fires round balls filled with green liquid and also contain 0.5cm diameter steel bullet. The green bullet breaks on contact, protesters said.
Among the injured were 16-year-olds Hamza Sulaiman Yasin, Abdallah Mohammad Yasin and Mohammad Ahmad Hasan, who were shot with the “green bullet” weapon. They were taken to Sheikh Zaid Hospital in Ramallah.
Two other teenagers, 14-year-old Mohammad Yasin and 17-year-old Abdallah Ahmad Yasin, were also injured during the protest.
