by Indigo Gilmore, January 25th
One village spilt in two by Israel’s controversial wall has been staging a non-violent protest for two years.
To Israel it is a security fence – the Palestinians call it the “apartheid wall”.
It is more than three years since the Israelis began building a massive barrier – part fence, part concrete structure – designed, they say, to keep out terrorist attacks from the Palestinian territories.
But critics say it is less about security than annexing Palestinian land and expanding settlements.
A report out this week by the Israeli organisation Bimkom shows the barrier carving its way through the West Bank, pushing Palestinian communities into a series of enclaves.
Indigo Gilmore has spent the last week in Bilin – split in two by the barrier – where residents have been involved in two years of non-violent protests.