|
Palestine Monitor
Human Rights Mean Nothing In Bil’in The weekly peaceful protests held throughout Palestine yesterday saw a high turnout of international demonstrators in celebration of International Human Rights Day. The increased international support did little to deter the Israeli soldiers from using exceptional amounts of tear-gas to disperse the crowds, in addition to the use of rubber bullets and sound grenades, with two activists arrested in Bi’lin, and one in Beit Ma’asara. An activist who witnessed the violence told us, “the Israelis fired tear gas before the peaceful demonstration ever reached the wall… it was crazy.” The demonstrations in Bil’in were of particular significance, as Friday coincided with the first anniversary of the imprisonment of Abdallah Abu Rahmah. Rahmah was the coordinator of the Bil’in Popular Committee Against the Wall and the Settlements before he was arrested on 10 December 2009 and convicted of “organising illegal demonstrations” and “incitement.” Although his sentence was completed last month, Abdallah Abu Rahmah is still being held at the request of the Israelis prosecution. Despite mass demonstrations and international condemnation he remains behind bars. The scale of the Bil’in protest led to an exceptionally repressive response from the Israeli military. The Israeli forces used tear-gas, sound grenades and rubber bullets to disperse the crowd. The Isreali soldiers also illegally declared the area a “Closed Military Zone,” in an attempt to force international demonstrators to leave the area. Declaring an area a “Closed Military Zone” without a court order is illegal under Israeli law. A German activist refused to leave the declared “Closed Military Zone” area and was subsequently arrested. He was released a few hours after the conclusion of the demonstration. A Palestinian man was also arrested in Bi’lin and detained before being released later that afternoon. An Israeli activist was arrested and released yesterday at the weekly demonstration in Beit Ma’asara. |