“It was hell. Soldiers shot without a stop.I saw a Palestinian demonstrator get killedIn front of my eyes.” Said Israeli Peace activistsWho took part in the demonstrations in Bidou.
“It was horror. Hell. The soldiers were shooting incessantly.I saw a Palestinian demonstrator get hit in the forehead and fallDown, bleeding. He died several minutes later” told JonathanPolak, an activist in the Anarchists Against Walls movement, who was amongst the activistswho arrived today at the village of Bidou, in orderTo take part in the protest against the fence that was organized byThe people of Bidou. The fence in Bidou, as in many other places, will cut off a large part of thevillage’s land.
Other activists said: “We have never seen such brutality. In the morning, thousands of thepeople of the village went and sat in the path of the bulldozers, where their olive groves areabout to be uprooted. Then these huge bulldozers came. Each one was accompanied by 50soldiers. They attacked the villagers and beat them brutally, driving them into the streetsof the village. Inside the village a real battle started. The youngsters of the village threwstones, and the army responded with gas bombs, but very soon moved to using live munitions.They occupied a building in the center of the village and snipers shot at people from it’s roof.
We ran to the clinic to try and help,. Wounded people kept coming, at least Seventy or Eightypeople. In addition to the two who were killed by live ammunition, another elderly man diedfrom a heart attack caused by a gas bomb that entered his home, and a young boy who is severelywounded in the head.
The only sin of these people is that they tried to protect the land which is theirs forgenerations and their olive trees which are their only source of income.
The army brutality, the brute oppression and the shooting – all these confirm all claimsbrought against the fence in Hague. It is absolutely clear now that the fence, built deep inPalestinian territory, is another means of oppression and occupation, and has nothing to dowith security.”
At the time of this release some activists are in the police station in the settlement of GivatZe’ev, trying to release the many activists arrested during the demonstration.
Tomorrow, Israeli and International peace activists intend to arrive at Bidou again, to takepart in the funerals and continue to help the villagers in their struggle against the wall.