- Dec 6, 2009
- 77,705
- 4,168
- 1,815
BILIN, West Bank (Reuters) Palestinian protesters rammed a bulldozer Friday into a contested barrier near the village of Bilin, days after the Israeli army said it would finally comply with a court order and reposition the fence.
Israeli soldiers fired volleys of tear gas and jets of foul-smelling liquid to force the flag-waving demonstrators away from the metal fencing that keeps locals from their land.
The Israeli military tore down a watchtower overlooking Bilin Wednesday and said they were ready to dismantle part of the fence, four years after the high court ruled it should be re-routed to give Palestinians greater access to farmland.
Palestinian leaders and activists descended on Bilin on Friday to celebrate the decision, but said the protests would continue because much of the land remained inaccessible.
"What the village of Bilin has got back because of the changing of the course of the wall represents less than half of the lands that were confiscated," Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad told Reuters television.
Palestinians use bulldozer to ram Israeli fence - Yahoo! News
Israeli soldiers fired volleys of tear gas and jets of foul-smelling liquid to force the flag-waving demonstrators away from the metal fencing that keeps locals from their land.
The Israeli military tore down a watchtower overlooking Bilin Wednesday and said they were ready to dismantle part of the fence, four years after the high court ruled it should be re-routed to give Palestinians greater access to farmland.
Palestinian leaders and activists descended on Bilin on Friday to celebrate the decision, but said the protests would continue because much of the land remained inaccessible.
"What the village of Bilin has got back because of the changing of the course of the wall represents less than half of the lands that were confiscated," Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad told Reuters television.
Palestinians use bulldozer to ram Israeli fence - Yahoo! News