West Bank protest marks 5 years of "Apartheid wall"

Palestinian and international activists assembled on Friday in Bilin to mark the fifth year of struggle against the establishment of Israel's separation wall across the West Bank.

Thousands of Palestinians, accompanied by foreign civil and human rights activists, made it to the West Bank village that has been the scene of weekly protests against the Israeli apartheid wall over the past five years.

Israeli troops fired tear gas on the demonstrators causing white smoke that was evident in Press TV's footage on the demonstration.

Medics were treating a number of protesters as they were lying on the ground coughing and chocking.

Israeli soldiers often fire tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse civil gatherings in Bilin.

Eyewitnesses have also confirmed that at times live rounds, tear gas and stun grenades are used against the protesters who on many occasions have been seriously wounded or even killed by Israeli troops.

Bilin has become a symbol of opposition to what is commonly referred to as the apartheid wall.

The segregation barrier zigzags through the village's olive stand and cuts the villagers from hundreds of hectares of their land. The Palestinians in Bilin complain that 60 percent of their land has been sliced off and ruined as the result of the Israeli construction operations.

Israel has been pushing ahead with the erection of the separation wall, defying a 2007 ruling by the International Court of Justice which says the move violates the international law.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=118995§ionid=351020202.