RAMALLAH, Friday, June 28, 2019 (WAFA) – Dozens of Palestinians suffocated by tear gas as Israeli forces violently quelled the weekly peaceful march in the village of Bilin, west of the West Bank district of Ramallah, said local sources.

Forces heavily fired tear gas canisters and stun grenades toward the demonstrators, including Israeli peace and foreign activists, causing dozens of suffocation cases among them and setting fire to vast areas of land planted with olive trees.

The demonstration was called for by the popular committees against the separation wall and illegal Israeli settlements in Bilin, came in support of president Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian leadership in the face of the so-called US ‘deal of the century’ and in condemnation of the US-led Bahrain workshop.

Demonstrators raised the Palestinian flag and chanted slogans calling for national unity, the release of all Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails, the return of refugees to their homes and land from which they were displaced, and demanding freedom for Palestine.

Bilin residents have been protesting every Friday against Israel’s confiscation of Palestinian land for over 12 years now, and have often been met with tear gas, rubber-coated steel bullets and stun grenades from Israeli forces.

T.R.