Saeed Amireh

The entrance to the village has continually been blocked by Israeli soldier as collective punishment for the protests against the Israeli occupation. Israeli soldiers block the only way in and out of the village, humiliating and detaining villagers for hours at a time.

On Friday the 16^th of October nine Israeli military jeeps and about 50 soldiers on foot invaded Ni’lin in the afternoon. They arrested a 14 year-old child in the street and started firing tear gas from canons mounted on top of the military jeeps, seemingly and random towards the houses and fields. Dozens of families including children and elderly suffered very badly from tear gas inhalation.

Clashes broke out as unarmed youths from the village tried to defend Ni’lin against the intruders. The Israeli soldiers covered the village in tear gas. Several Israeli snipers were posted on rooftops in the village and one youth was hit in the leg with live ammunition. Another was hit by four rubber coated steel bullets. Several attempts to snipe protesters were avoided.

The clashes lasted until eight o’clock in the evening and the injured protesters were unable to reach Ramallah hospital because of the blockade at the entrance of the village. This also meant that no ambulances were allowed into Ni’lin. The injured protesters finally could be taken to hospital via the surrounding fields and a neighboring village.

Lately the soldiers have been firing live ammunition seemingly without hesitation, knowing that they have the blessing of Benjamin Netanyahu to fire freely. During this last Friday five unarmed Palestinians were murdered by Israeli soldiers, three in the West Bank and two in Gaza. In the same day 32 civilians in the West Bank and 100 in Gaza were injured by live ammunition. Israeli soldiers have also been seen attacking Palestinian ambulances while they are trying to care for the wounded.