<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?><oembed><version><![CDATA[1.0]]></version><provider_name><![CDATA[Occupied Palestine | فلسطين]]></provider_name><provider_url><![CDATA[https://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com]]></provider_url><author_name><![CDATA[occupiedpalestine]]></author_name><author_url><![CDATA[https://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com/author/hajarhajar/]]></author_url><title><![CDATA[What really happened in&nbsp;Bil’in]]></title><type><![CDATA[link]]></type><html><![CDATA[<p class="headline_meta">by <span class="author vcard"><a class="url fn" href="http://mondoweiss.net/author/philweiss/">Felice Gelman</a></span> on <abbr class="published" title="2011-01-02">January 2, 2011</abbr> · <span><a rel="nofollow" href="http://mondoweiss.net/2011/01/what-really-happened-in-bilin.html#comments">0 comments</a></span></p>
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<p><img src="https://i1.wp.com/mondoweiss.net/images/2011/01/felice1.jpg" alt="felice1" width="448" height="336" align="left" /><img src="https://i1.wp.com/mondoweiss.net/images/2011/01/felice4.jpg" alt="felice4" width="448" height="336" align="left" />I  was at the demo on Friday and at the funeral on Saturday &#8212; along with  Jen Marlowe and Andrew El Kadi.  Also Dorothy Zellner came with me on  Saturday.</p>
<p>Hundreds of Palestinians from the border area villages,  internationals, and Israelis gathered in Bil&#8217;in for the Friday  demonstration.  Notables like Salam Fayyad showed up to make speeches,  but I did not see them join the march.  The IOF commenced firing heavy  tear gas before demonstrators were within five hundred yards of them. A  small number of people managed to penetrate the gas and get to within 15  feet of the soldiers.  Obviously, this was a non-violent demonstration  because they simply remained there, talking to the soldiers for at least  an hour.</p>
<p><img src="https://i0.wp.com/mondoweiss.net/images/2011/01/felice2.jpg" alt="felice2" width="448" height="336" align="left" />The  gas, according to several people I was with, was much more debilitating  than they had experienced before.  I can say, in addition to burning  the eyes and nose, it caused significant chest pain.  It also remained  effective even when it was no longer visible in the air. You would think  you had moved away from it and suddenly you couldn&#8217;t breathe.  While I  was never closer to the IOF than 300 yards, a young boy only six feet  away from collapsed from the gas effects and was taken to the hospital.</p>
<p>I can say that <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/02/world/middleeast/02mideast.html?_r=2&amp;src=twt&amp;twt=nytimesworld">Isabel Kershner&#8217;s comment in the New York Times</a>,  that these demonstrations &#8220;inevitably end in clashes, with young  Palestinians hurling stones and the Israeli security forces firing tear  gas, stun grenades and rubber bullets&#8221; completely reverses the course of  events.  The IOF commenced firing tear gas long before any  demonstrators neared them.  There was little stone throwing during the  demonstration and it did not commence until long after the tear gas.</p>
<p><img src="https://i0.wp.com/mondoweiss.net/images/2011/01/felice3.jpg" alt="felice3" width="448" height="336" align="left" />For  a group of demonstrators that got closer than I did (maybe 100 yards or  so from the IOF), the soldiers fired a tear gas barrage in front of  them, then behind them &#8212; trapping them.  Then numerous tear gas  canisters were fired into the center of the group &#8212; clearly a punitive,  not defensive, action.</p>
<p>In addition, the IDF spokeman is claiming that Jawaher Abu Rahme was  released from the Ramallah hospital and died at home.  This is just an  effort to complicate the chain of evidence that she was asphyxiated by  tear gas.  She died at 9 am in the morning at the hospital and many  people, including Andrew el Kadi, waited there until her body was  brought out to be taken to Bil&#8217;in for burial.</p>
<p>New York Times &#8212; all the news that&#8217;s fit to print!</p>
<p>How many members of the Abu Rahme family will be killed, shot, jailed as they fight for their rights and their land?</p>
</div>
<p><a href="http://mondoweiss.net/2011/01/what-really-happened-in-bilin.html">What really happened in Bil’in</a>.</p>
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