Bil’in: Israeli military night raid
- August 29th, 2009, Bil’in village report, view video
- Photo: ActiveStills. Protesting night raids in Bil’in, Palestine.
Around 3:30 am, the Israeli occupation forces invaded Bil’in once again arresting 2 Palestinians.
Two houses were raided simultaneously by at least 40 soldiers. In the first house, Ashraf Mohammad Jamal Tofik Al-Khatib (age 29) was arrested. In the second house, they arrested Hamru Hisham Bornat (age 24).
The cameraman, Haitham Al-Khatib, who was filming in his own house, one victim being his brother, was repeatedly forcibly moved and hit, and threatened with arrest unless he stopped filming. They declared his house a “closed military zone” but did not produce any military order. 3 Jeeps and 2 Humvee jeeps were used for the operation.
The Israeli Army invaded Bil’in from three directions, the neighbor villages Kofr Ni’ma and Saffa, and through the gate from the Apartheid Wall. They parked their vehicles, engines running, opposite the mosque. With the victims inside the Jeeps, the vehicles exited the village toward the Wall.
The international activists present were challenging the soldiers regarding their operation, but they were unable to de-arrest the victims. Upon repeated requests for information, activists were ignored, pushed, and had rifles pointed at their faces. They were told on more than one occasion that the village had been declared as a “closed military zone,” but soldiers refused to show proof.
