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Nobel Peace Laureate wounded & Puerto Rican climber/peace-activist arrested in Bil`in
Ali Waked - Ynet News, April, 20.07
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3390314,00.html
[Original title: Nobel peace laureate Corrigan injured in anti-fence protest]

Noble Peace Prize laureate Mairead Corrigan was treated for injury in leg sustained by rubber bullet

Nobel Peace Prize Mairead Corrigan has been injured during confrontations between security forces and left-wing activists protesting the security fence route near Bilin, activists said.

Corrigan, who won the prize in 1976 for her work in encouraging a peaceful solution to the Northern Ireland dispute, was hit in the leg by a rubber bullet and was transferred to a hospital for treatment. She was also said to have inhaled large quantities of teargas.

Policemen and soldiers used teargas grenades and rubber bullets to disperse the routine Friday protest against the security fence near the Palestinian village of Bilin and were confronted by a hail of stones.

Two Border Guard policemen were lightly injured by stones.

The security forces say the area where activists hold their protest is a no-access military zone which they have to evacuate of Palestinian and Israeli protesters every Friday.

Activists say the fence route near Bilin was designed to expropriate Palestinian farm land which will be used to expand a Jewish settlement in the area.

Palestinian Information Minister Mustafa Barghouti and Deputy Prime Minister Assam al-Ahmad also took part in the protest.

`I salute the residents of Bilin for their peaceful struggle in a region that is so violent and I call on the Israeli public, whom I know is for justice and peace, to support the residents` struggle,` Corrigan told Ynet.


Tito Kayak was also there

`I want to say that this separation wall, contrary to what the Israeli say, will not prevent attacks and violence. What will prevent attacks and violence is a peace agreement between the two peoples, and I sure the Israeli people, like the Palestinian people, wants peace,` Corrigan added.

Puerto Rican peace activist Tito Kayak climbed a tower on which the army had planted security cameras and hoisted a Palestinian flag.

`All I did was to express my identification with the villagers against the wall which is believed to be evil and illegal by the whole world and many leaders like Nelson Mandela, Jimmy Carter and the United Nations,` Kayak said.

Kayak, who was arrested in 2000 for climbing to the top deck of the Statue of Liberty in New York, was apprehended along with six other activists by policemen.

Kayak was a key figure in the 1999 Navy-Vieques protests in Puerto Rico against the US Navy`s use of the Vieques Island for bombing exercises. The protests forced the US to end its activities on the Island.


See also:
Ma`an News April, 20, 2007
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=21358

Ramallah - Ma`an - Palestinian Minister of Information Dr Mustafa Barghouthi has assured that the Palestinian struggle against the separation wall will continue and that the Israeli measures cannot prevent Palestinians from raising their voices.

Barghouthi`s statement came during a press conference on Friday in the village of Bi`lin, located west of Ramallah, with Mairead Corregan, the 1976 Nobel Peace Prize winner from Ireland.

Barghouthi added: `We will be liberated like the Algerians, the South Africans and the Indians. Israel will not be able to force us to concede our rights and issue.`

This press conference came at the end of the Bil`in International Non-Violence Conference in which a number of high-profile activists, academics and politicians from around the world participated.

Mohammad Khatib from the Bil`in Popular Committee Against the Wall, said in a press release from the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) that the reasoning behind the conference was that `we want to share with the world the message of Bil`in and Palestine, that we will continue to non-violently resist Israel`s Occupation, and we hope that everyone will leave this conference and bring that truth home.`

Bil`in has been the focus of non-violent protest against Israel`s illegal separation wall and occupation of Palestinian land for over two years. 60% of Bil`in`s land has been confiscated due to the construction of the wall.

Barghouthi condemned the Israeli attempt to derail his press conference by declaring the area a closed military zone. Barghouthi added, `The Israeli goal of building the separation wall was not a security one as it claimed; it was a political one in order to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state.`

The issue of security is an Israeli allegation, the minister said. `The wall separates the Palestinians between themselves, not between the Israelis and the Palestinians,` Barghouthi pointed out. `There are 950,000 Palestinians behind the wall [i.e. between the wall and the Green Line], living in isolation, and separated from their people.`

The minister called on the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) to take the issue of the wall to the United Nations general assembly, because the decision taken at The Hague in 2004 – in which the law was declared illegal – is very important, he said.

He added that the Israeli soldiers `are confronting the peaceful protests against the wall by using teargas and bullets.`

Barghouthi also pointed out that the Palestinians planted on Friday 32 trees south of Bethlehem to show their solidarity with the 32 students killed in Virginia. `They just wanted to show that they are supporting the families of these students and the American people against terrorism,` he said.

He also urged the abductors of the BBC reporter, Alan Johnston, to release him.

Corregan from her side said, `I came to the Palestinian territories to tell the world that the wall should fall as it is […] a spot of shame in the face of the world and humanity, in addition to the international community who should act to end the suffering of the Palestinian people`.

According to a press release from the International Solidarity Movement, Mrs. Corregan stated that the wall has `nothing to do with security, but to annex large areas of Palestinian land, causing many difficulties to the Palestinian people.` She also recalled the International Court of Justice at The Hague`s decision in September 2004 which `clearly states that the wall is illegal under international law and that it must be dismantled immediately.`

She also said that the world sees nothing about the Palestinians except violence because of the Israeli policy of manipulating and misleading the media.

She called on the Israeli government to stop its occupation of the Palestinian lands and solve the conflict peacefully.

She also urged the captors of the abducted BBC reporter to release him. Alan Johnston was abducted in the Gaza Strip on 12 March and it is still not clear who is holding him.

During this Friday`s march in Bil`in, like on many other Fridays over the last two years, the Israeli forces shot tear gas at the demonstrators. Minister Barghouthi was the target of tear gas and the Israeli forces attempted to attack him. Corregan herself was hit by a rubber bullet and suffered a bleeding nose. Another foreigner was injured in the head in addition to many other injuries, including of journalists.

[see also Palestine News Network:]
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2236

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