This picture features Ashraf Abu Rahme, who was arrested in Bil’in yesterday. Abu Rahme’s brother Bassem was killed in Bil’in a year ago. Date of photo unknown.
Report on yesterday’s Bil’in demonstration, by Hamde:
Today’s demonstrators, consisting of Palestinians, Israelis, and internationals, proceeded from the Bil’in mosque towards the Wall. Halfway along the route, the procession picked up additional demonstrators in the form of several men dressed entirely in black, carrying a coffin with a man inside. The grim scene symbolized the Palestinians’ loss of land during the Nakba and their inability to return to these lands. Most importantly, the coffin symbolized the fact that Palestinian refugees are not allowed to bury their deceased loved ones on their native soil.
The army fired tear gas and many aluminum canisters into the crowd not long after they gathered at the Wall. The army aggressively entered through the Wall’s gate and chased protestors up the route, as other soldiers fired tear gas canisters into the retreating crowd. Several were grabbed and arrested: Haitham al-Khatib, cameraman from Bil’in; Stormy, an American activist; Ashraf Abu Rahme from Bil’in; Abdul Fattah Burnat from Bil’in; and two Israeli demonstrators, Roy and Uri. One Palestinian man was injured with a gas canister to his chest, and dozens suffered from tear gas inhalation. The procession finally retreated after these arrests and after being forced back up the hill into the village
