Hundreds join the Bilin Conferene on Popular Resistance
by George Rishmawi, 18 April 2007
Speakers stressed the need for popular resistance
More than five hundred Palestinian, Israeli and international peace activists arrived in Bilin on Wednesday morning to join the second international conference on popular resistance, which is held in a marquee in the heart of the village.
More than five hundred Palestinian, Israeli and international peace activists arrived in Bilin on Wednesday morning to join the second international conference on popular resistance, which is held in a marquee in the heart of the village.
The confernce started with a rendition of the Palestinian national anthem, then Nasser Al-Kidweh, a senior Palestinian official representing the Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, spoke to the conference.
He affirmed the President’s support of the popular nonviolent resistance against the Israeli occupation in Palestine. Vice president of the European Parliament Luisa Morganitini, who came from Italy to join the conference, affirmed her support and solidarity with the Palestinian people “in their just struggle for freedom”.
A number of Palestinian speakers gave a summary of the Palestinian confernce which was held on March 22nd, and presented the recommendations of the Palestinian confernece. Member of the French Parliament Jean-Claude Lefort spoke about the double standards in the present situation in Palestine. A member of the Bilin Popular Committee Against the Wall gave an overview about the village and the history of nonviolent resistance to the Wall.
Bilin is a village northwest of Ramallah where the Wall will cut through its land causing many villagers to lose a large area of their agricultural land. The people of Bilin have beenn organizing nonviolent resistance to the wall for two years.