11 September 2009
A second meeting was held in Iraq Burin about protesting the annexation of the land of the village for nearby settlements. The meeting was held to encourage and inspire different ways of doing actions, demonstrations and protests, and began by showing the second part of the documentary Bil’in Habibti, picturing the struggle of Bil’in. The focus of the meeting was in particular on nonviolent resistance and alternative ways of protesting. There were around 30 men and male youths of different ages. Even though no debate followed, because of Ramadan, some of the youths expressed interest in nonviolent protest as a way of increasing the popular resistance. The demonstrations in Bil’in started with only a handful of people and then grew bigger every week, and the organizer of the meeting used this as an example to encourage the people of Iraq Burin to continue the resistance. They also plan to watch more movies about nonviolent resistance, for example from South Africa and India.
A demonstration is planned for the 25th or the 26th September. The villagers appreciate the support from international groups and would like an increase in their presence for future demonstrations.
In August, three demonstrations where held but they stopped because of Ramadan. The demonstrations were immediately met with excessive violence from settlers and Israeli soldiers. In the future the villagers want to improve the organization of the demonstrations in generally and follow the example of Bil’in to carry out stronger demonstrations. They wish to engage more of the local youth in the popular resistance.