Roughly 1,500 protesters gathered in Bil'in on February 23, 2007, to celebrate the second anniversary to demonstrations against the wall in the village. Neither the large number of attendants nor the bigger than usual participation of Israelis (over 200) deterred the army from using severe violence against the demonstrators. Even the large presence of journalists, who were attacked themselves, did not sway the army to moderation.

As people gathered in the village, before the march began, an exhibition of the creative props from two years of demonstrations was displayed, as well as pictures by photographer's collective activestills. Apart from Israelis and internationals, the residents of Bil'in were joined by Palestinians from all over the West Bank. People showed up from as far as the Bethlehem and Hebron regions, which were represented by a fifty strong delegation.

video of the demonstration

related links: celebration of two years of Friday demonstrations | AATW - Anarchists Against Walls | Photos of last few months of demonstrations | International Solidarity Movement's Bil'in page | Bil'in Village

The march, which stretched for almost a kilometer, finally reached the gate in the wall to find it barricaded with razor wire, as usual, and a massive contingent of border police and army behind it. A speech was made by a member of the Bil'in Popular committee, after which a group broke from the demonstration and started sabotaging the wall a few hundred meters away.

Back near the gate, pushing and shoving began, as soldiers tried to keep people from climbing the gate. A few stones were thrown at the soldiers, who in turn stormed out of the gate and started indiscriminately firing massive amounts of rubber bullets, teargas projectiles and concussion grenades; a water-cannon was used as well.

A few activists managed to pass through the gate towards their lands, but were violently pushed back a few minutes later. A group of Palestinians, Israelis and internationals sat in front of the gate, which was once again closed, and for a long hour prevented the army from further invading the village. Soldiers first tried to violently remove the group by force, detaining two Israelis in the process, but fell short in dispersing the human knot. Several long gusts of water were then discharged at them by the water cannon, but to no avail.

At this point soldiers resorted to the use of concussion grenades hitting a few people directly. One of them, Iyad Burnat from Bil'in's popular committee, was hit in the back and his superficial wound was treated on the spot, but it was his stomach that he held. Approximately thirty minutes later he collapsed, puking blood. He was evacuated to the hospital, where it was determined he has internal bleeding in the right kidney.

Sixteen people were injured in the demonstration, mostly by rubber bullets and teargas projectile. Four of them had to be evacuated to the hospital.

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