Night Raid on Bil'in

international | rights, freedoms and repression | news report

Wednesday May 12, 2010 08:19

by TD - Free Palestine Campaign

Ashraf Abu Rahma

Last night, Israeli Occupation Forces raided the West Bank village of Bil'in, the home of noted activist Ashraf Abu Rahma was targeted this time and Ashraf - arrested last Friday by the IOF but released - was their quarry. Bil'in, after five years of frequent terrorising invasions by Israeli forces, has a well honed warning system and the villagers were alerted as the invasion soldiers mustered on the edge of the village. Ashraf's attempted rearrest follows hard on the heels of the arrests of Bil'in's stalwart videographer Haitham al-Katib and farmer Waji Bornat at last Friday's weekly protest against the nearby Apartheid -Annexation Wall. Ashraf managed to evade the raiding soldiers this time but he's now faced with the hard dilemma of seeing the notorious Shabak "internal security" this morning or else toughening it out and triggering further raids.

Ashraf's attempted arrest apart, after a four week hiatus, it's feared last night's proceedings is a harbinger for worst to come.

Sheikh Jarrah : Yesterday, the petty viciousness and harassment of Sheikh Jarrah's disposseded and evicted was witnessed when Israeli Jerusalem muncipality officials and police forced the removal of a Palestine flag that evictee Nasser Al-Ghawi had flying from his car. "Settlers" in the comfort of his stolen house gloatingly watched and provocatively vidoed the proceedings on the justification -when challenged- that the flag was "terrorist".

Beit Jala : According to a military confiscation order handed to the villagers, the path of the Apartheid-Annexation Wall will stretch over 4,890 meters between Beit Jala and al-Wallaja, affecting 35 families, whose homes may be slated for demolition. Once completed, the Wall will isolate 3,200 dunams of the towns lands, including almost 3,000 dunams of olive groves and the only recreational forest in the area, the Cremisan monastery and the Cremisan Cellars winery. Beit Jala lies only two kilometers from the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, Its name comes from Aramaic, the language of Jesus Christ, and means "grass carpet".