November 3, 2013
Iyad Burnat, (click here) star of the Oscar-nominated film 5 Broken Cameras, was among those shot by Israeli forces during the weekly protest in his village of Bilin on Friday.
Israeli forces opened fire on a demonstration against the separation wall four in Bilin on Friday afternoon, injuring four individuals including Iyad Burnat and two other members of his family. Dozens of others suffered from excessive tear gas inhalation.
Iyad was struck by two rubber-coated steel bullets in the thigh.
In a Facebook post on Friday evening, Burnat said that he was “fine.”
He added in a separate post on Saturday that “the bullet that does not kill us makes us stronger.”...
This is an outrage. The Palestinians in Bil'in are chronically under siege and they are ignored by their own Palestinian government.
What is the sense in any peace talks if the people on the ground do not consent to it. They don't ask much, simply a place on Earth to call home. The people of Bil'in have done nothing wrong except to demonstrate and make their presence known to not be forgotten.
The Palestinian people have no reassurances and haven't for some time that they will indeed have homes, a way of life and a future for their children.
If an Oscar nominated film can't get the attention of the world and the Obama Administration to bring about justice for these people, then what will? Nothing? The future of these people are hopelessly lost to violence forever?
Unless the people consent and are reassured about their future, the killing won't stop. The peaceful protests will continue, the people will be viewed as a problem and they will die trying to save their homeland.
More martyrs? Is that what the Israel-Palestine talks will result in? This assault on the decency of the Palestinians to demonstrate and not send suicide bombers to visit Israel has to be recognized, rewarded and the PEOPLE NEED TO BE HEARD, NOT IGNORED!
