RAMALLAH, April 9, 2010 (WAFA)-  Palestinian Journalist and videographer Haitham Al Khatib from the West Bank village of Bil’in west of Ramallah was arrested by Israeli Occupation forces while documenting the weekly demonstration against the Israeli Apartheid Wall in the village.

When Palestinians, Israeli, and International activists marched to the wall in Bil’in Village, they were faced with excessive force from the Israeli army. As demonstrators reached the barrier soldiers began firing tear gas at the crowd.

 At one point soldiers used a cannon that shoots 30 canisters of gas at once to disperse the crowd. Soldiers also used live ammunition and rubber coated bullets against non-violent demonstrators today. Soldiers entered the village thru the gate in the barrier and attempted to arrest many of the demonstrators.

 Palestinian Journalist and videographer Haitham Al Khatib from Bil’in was arrested while documenting the demonstration and army incursion.

Haitham works with the Israeli human rights information center B’tselem as well as with the local Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements. He returned to the village yesterday from a three-week tour in Europe where he was showing his latest film “Life on Wheels”. The film looks at occupation in Bil’in through the experience of Jody McIntire an International activist from the EU.

 On March 15, dozens of masked soldiers raided Bil'in and Ni'ilin Villages to post decrees designating the village's lands as a closed military zone on Fridays for six months.