Israeli troops brutally attack cameraman filming raid

[joeblow]

Israeli troops brutally attack cameraman filming raid


Israeli forces fire a gas canister at Bil'in villagers.

Israeli soldiers brutally attack a number of peace activists, who were documenting an overnight raid on a Palestinian house in the West Bank town of Bil'in.

The incident happened in the early hours of Thursday as 25 Israeli soldiers, with their faces painted black, were raiding the house of Mohammad Abu Rahma -- a member of the village's Popular Committee against the Wall and Settlements.

A number of International Solidarity Movement (ISM) activists were present at the scene with one of them filming the raid, which saw the Israeli soldiers breaking into the house, beating Rahma and dragging him out all the way to the separation wall where they dumped him into one of the vehicles that were waiting for them.

During the course of the raid, the Israeli soldiers attacked the ISM members, brutally beat two of the peace activists and broke their camera. One of those battered was cameraman Haitham Khatib who lives in the village, International Middle East Media Center (IMEMC) reported.

Israeli soldiers conduct overnight raids on Palestinian houses in the West Bank on a routine basis. Five days ago they had taken Rahma's 14-year-old son Nashmi Mohammed Ibrahim Abu Rahma.

For the past five years, Bil'in residents have been continuously protesting against the de facto annexation of more than 50% of their farmlands under the excuse of constructing the separation wall, also known as the Apartheid Wall.

In another incident, the Israeli military kidnapped four Palestinian civilians in the southern West Bank city of al-Khalil (Hebron) on Thursday morning.

Local sources reported that troops stormed a number of homes in the city and took the four men by force.

The military announced that the men were taken to military detention camps for questioning and that all four were on the army's Wanted List.

FTP/SME/MMN