On Tuesday December 14, the people of Bil'in accompanied by international and Israeli activists and journalists marched peacefully against the construction of the illegal Israeli Apartheid Wall. The village of Bil~Rin, located west of Ramallah, has been told that three-quarters of its land will be confiscated and handed over to the neighbouring Israeli settlement during wall construction.

The demonstrators marched peacefully through their land, using their presence to obstruct the military surveyors planning the precise route of the Wall. To repress the nonviolent demonstration, 30-40 Border Policemen fired tear gas and plastic-coated metal bullets into the crowd, before baton-charging those remaining.

Kelly Minio-Paluello, who was filming throughout the demonstration, documented several Palestinians being dragged off for individual beatings by groups of baton-wielding soldiers. When the soldiers realized she was filming, Kelly Minio-Paluello was wrestled to the ground and dragged up the hill. Later, a second American was arrested for filming.

Kelly Minio-Paluello said, "I was arrested filming the unprovoked attacks of gangs of heavily-armed soldiers on women and teenagers who dared to say, 'Stop stealing our land!' Israel depends on shooting mothers with tear gas and beating their children with batons to enforce the occupation and subjugate the people of Palestine. It relies on violence to quell civil resistance, yet tries to hide this fact from the world. That is why I am in prison."

Since her arrest, Kelly Minio-Paluello has been stripsearched in an attempt to humiliate her and interrogated in the Ministry of Interior. She is currently being held in Hadera Deportation Centre, where a judge issued Kelly with a deportation order. Minio-Paluello has neither been informed of her charges nor been allowed to represent herself. She has not been told when she will be deported or informed of her rights.

Kelly Minio-Paluello is a journalist and community activist. She entered the country legally in October, has a visa, has never been deported or denied entry. She is working on various media production and training projects as part of the Balatacamp.net collective. See Balatacamp.net/~balata/website/balata.htm for further information.

Contact: ++972 [0]54 6346923 (Kelly in prison)  mika@balatacamp.net (Kelly's husband Mika)