Tear gas and bullets break up West Bank fence protest

The Israeli army arrested nine foreigners yesterday who were attempting to prevent the destruction of Palestinian trees and land to make way for a security fence designed to separate the West Bank from Israel.

Protesters at the scene said that soldiers fired tear gas and live ammunition at about 100 Palestinians and 30 foreigners from the US and Europe who were blocking bulldozers trying to clear trees at Jayyous near Qalqilia. Those detained include a Briton, Gerry Gibbon.

"At first we managed to push the bulldozers back," said Huwaida Arras, an American protester of Palestinian descent.

"There was a standoff for two hours between the Israeli military and people. Basically our position was that we wouldn't let them uproot any more trees," said Ms Arras.

"Then there was an ultimatum that we had to move or they would use violence. The soldiers moved forward shooting at the people running away.

"A few of us stepped forward to block the soldiers from shooting and at that point they turned the guns on us and they started beating us."

Ms Arras said a Canadian, Thomas Linner, was badly assaulted. He was hit repeatedly in the stomach with a rifle butt, she claimed.

The Israeli army said it was responding to stone-throwing by the protesters.

The Israelis began building the "separation fence" about six months ago.

Although it loosely follows the path of the 1967 border, the government does not want the combination of fence and wall to become a border for a de facto Palestinian state, so it frequently runs several kilometres inside the West Bank.

In many places it cuts between Palestinian villages and their agricultural land.

Thousands of olive trees are being destroyed during the construction and Palestinians will be unable to reach many tens of thousands more once the fence is built.

In Jayyous, villagers face losing access to about three-quarters of their land. Residents say the fence will result in the loss of more than 200 greenhouses, 15,000 olive trees and 50,000 citrus trees.