Budrus Villagers Non-Violent Resistance to the Wall is Met with
Immediate Israeli Violence, Once Again
Today the villagers of Budrus turn-outed once again to continue
their non-violent resistance to the construction of the Wall on
their lands. They had planned to stop the bulldozers that are
uprooting olive trees and destroying the land to make way for the
Israeli Wall.
Villagers, accompanied by Israelis and other internationals, left
the center of Budrus at 8:30AM, marched to the Masgoofah area to
protest the return of the bulldozers. Before they had even reached
the site they were met with rounds of tear gas, concussion grenades,
and random shots from the Israeli Army using rubber bullets.
In the first fifteen minutes, five Palestinians were injured
including a nine year-old child who was hit in the head.
Protestors could not retreat nor move forward since every time they
attempted to regroup they were attacked by Israeli soldiers. Any
group of protestors, however small, was immediately dispersed.
After the protestors had returned to Budrus the soldiers occupied
several homes and the school on the outskirts of the village and
began firing at residents. They also fired tear gas into homes,
including a home with an infant.
Several journalists, who had also reached one of the roofs the
Israeli army had occupied, were promptly hit in the face and pushed
back down the stairs by Israeli soldiers.
At 11:30AM a group of women attempted to near the site of the
bulldozers. Israeli soldiers responded by firing vertically into
the women with teargas canisters and rubber bullets.
Close to 1:00PM, residents of Budrus, accompanied by internationals,
attempted to march toward the area where the land is being destroyed
from another direction. The Israeli Army were able to cut them off
and continued firing tear gas and rubber bullets.
Eye-witness reports claim that internationals were specifically
targeted and over 20 Palestinians were injured by Israeli soldiers
firing rubber bullets.
The immediate and excessive violence used by the Israeli Army has
been a pattern in the last couple days, as is their targeting of
internationals.
Residents of Budrus have successfully resisted the construction of
the Wall on their land for the past ten months. However, in the
past three days, bulldozers have begun to prepare the land for the
Wall's foundation.
For more information, please contact:
Abu Ahmad: (Arabic, English)972-547-924-952
Eva: (English, French)972-54-761-9275
Raz: (Hebrew) 972-507-946-044
ISM Media Office:(English, Spanish) 972-2-277-4602 or 972-547-358-579
For photos of today's march please see:
Featuring Iltezam and Abu Ahmed
http://news.search.yahoo.com/search/news/?ei=ISO-8859-1&c=news_photos&p=Budrus
