Author: ISM Media Group

Tear Gas and Sound Grenades replaced with Music and Dancing: Bilin Celebrates…


To view the CNN report on the BIl’in victory celebration see: www.americanhummus.com

On Friday, September 7th, the villagers of Bil’in were joined by international and Israeli comrades. Normally they come together every Friday to express their outrage of the unacceptable Apartheid Wall. Normally the day is filled with military violence, tear gas, sound bombs, and billy clubs are common. Once the military begins to fire gas into the crowds, the non-violent protesters tend to back off eventually leaving only the Palestinian children throwing rocks in anger. A mild response in comparison to the rubber coated steel bullets used against them.

This day was different, one can say it was not a demonstration, but a celebration. There was still a reason to demonstrate, the Israeli Occupation Forces were still standing en masse behind the gate, guns ready and cameras recording. The wall was still there and though due to be moved, it will still be re-located onto Palestinian land, blocking the area to the illegal Matityahu East settlement, also on Palestinian land. There is also the knowledge that though this is a clear victory, it is also a rare victory. Around 120 cases have been brought to court about the Apartheid Wall and the its devastating effects on Palestinian land, water, economy, and culture, but only four have not been rejected.

But this was a victory, and a day to be victorious. Of the now four cases of success in Israeli courts, three of them have been fought with joint non-violent struggle. Activists, demonstrators and participants gathered at the International House in Bilin where baklava, a traditional Palestinian sweet, was served to the guests passing through. At the entrance was an arrangement created out of tear gas canisters collected over the many demonstrations laid out to acknowledge the brutality that has been faced by the village and the demonstrators over the three years it has been going on.

The villagers and their supporters marched towards the wall today, committed to non-violence, stopping people before the gate and telling them not to speak, provoke, or argue with the soldiers. This was not a day to run from tear gas, but to speak, listen, and dance freely.

During the celebrations speeches were given, songs sung and music and dancing ensued. In the midst of this, the appointed Palestinian Prime Minister, Salam Fayyad made an appearance, undertaking a speech and further walking up to the gate where Israelis held their position on the other side.

The celebration lasted around two hours, at the end of which a couple of children threw a few stones. The organizers, keen to ensure the demonstration would not escalate into aggression and violence, quickly called off the celebrations and told everyone to return to the village. They stopped the children they could while the army gathered to pass through the gate once more into the village land. Only a few stones were thrown and the villagers put a stop to it as quickly as they could. Celebrations continued back at the village.

Mass Detentions and House Searches in the Old City of Hebron

6th September 2007, Hebron

Last night at 9.30pm dozens of soldiers were in the old city of Hebron. They called on loud speakers for all the men aged 18 to 35 to come out of the houses and then they detained them. Three international Human Rights Workers (HRWs) from ISM arrived at the Ibrahimi Mosque at 10.15pm to see 150 Palestinian men in a metal pen sitting in rows on the ground. About 10 0ther HRWs (from CPT and TIPH) were also there. More men were being brought to the mosque while HRWs maintained their presence. Released detainees said that they were being processed in groups and then released.

The processing involved passing through a metal detector, being photographed and then each man had to explain where he lived and have his body searched. They said this was being done by Israeli Intelligence Service. Other detainees said they had been given papers to report later to the Israeli Intelligence Service for more interrogation. The Border Police forced HRWs to leave the mosque area after 30 minutes.

The HRWs then entered the old souk by another route and found the streets and passages full of soldiers going to all the houses and disturbing the women and children. Some women were outside their houses with their distressed children. The soldiers would not explain why they were doing this when asked.

Israeli Army Commander Nir, the commander of Hebron, said that he was an Israeli protecting Israeli Settlers ‘here in Israel’ as he checked the passports. HRWs reminded him that it was his duty to protect all the civilians including Palestinians in Israeli occupied parts of Hebron (H2).

At 11.35pm a released detainee said that the soldiers were carrying out a survey of the occupants of all the houses in parts of the old city. There was also a report of one detainee being beaten.

Bil’in Celebrates Victorious Court Decision

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

On Friday, September 7th, the villagers of Bil’in will be celebrating the victorious court decision made on September 5th concerning the Apartheid Wall on their land. Bil’in has been holding weekly demonstrations for the last two and a half years against the theft of over 50% of their land by the Apartheid Wall.

The Israeli Supreme Court recently decided the wall must be moved off the majority of village land in a reasonable amount of time, for now villagers are allowed access through a military-manned gate between the hours of 6am and 8pm.

The Israeli High Court decided on the same day that the Matityahu-East settlement, half built but recently squatted by settlers and illegal under the fourth Geneva Convention, should remain but that the state, the settlers, and the construction company must pay villager’s court costs.

Of the more than 120 cases brought to Israeli court about the Apartheid wall only four have been successful. Three of the four victorious cases (Budrus, Biddu, and Bil’in) have used joint non-violent struggle to help accomplish this.

The celebration on Friday will be held in full knowledge of the rarity of such a victory, and will keep in mind the villages who have had their cases rejected. The fact that the wall is still there, that it is still occupying Palestinian land, and that the illegal settlement will remain on Palestinian land also will not be forgotten. But this is still a victory for the village, and for the joint non-violent resistance to celebrate.

People will meet at the international house near the village mosque at 1pm.

For more information call:
ISM Media office 022971824
Iyad (Bil’in) 0547847942

Palestinian village celebrates victory over Israeli Apartheid

The 135th demonstration in the village of Bil’in took place yesterday. Normally the demonstrations occur on fridays, but this week something changed all that. This week, we encountered a seismic shift. Three Israeli judges ruled in favor of the villagers, saying the Apartheid Wall, which has been the focus of their weekly demonstrations for over two years, must be moved to grant access to Palestinian land. The villagers responded by having a spontaneous celebration, followed at 4:30pm by a demonstration at the gate to their land. Hundreds of people, men, women, children, Palestinian, Israeli and international came together hands held, flags raised and heads high to march to the gate that was the site of so much military violence.

Cars followed the people waving Palestinian flags of various political parties. People spoke and danced as music played from the moving vehicles. At last, they reached the Apartheid Wall without military aggression. The soldiers standing at the gate had no response. As the sun gradually set over the carcass of Matityahu East on the backdrop of hills, people later marched back, chanting, singing, impossibly happy. The party gathered near the village mosque and continued into the darkness with fireworks, music and cheers echoing into the night.

Out of more than a hundred and twenty cases filed against the wall in the West Bank, only four have been sucessful, Budrus, Alfe Menashe, Biddu, and now Bil’in. With the exeption of Alfe Menashe, the other three villages used joint non-violent struggle to fight against their situation in conjunction with legal mechanisms. While we are overjoyed at this victory for Bil’in, and for the success of joint Israeli-Palestinian non-violent resistance, we feel we must remember the more than a hundred and twenty other villages who have had their cases denied. It must further be recognized that only half the battle for Bil’in has been won.

The wall still exists, and still stands on Palestinian soil. It still perpatrates a grotesque land theft from both Bil’in and the other hundreds of villages who’s land lies along the route of the Apartheid Wall. The petition against the construction of the illegal Matityahu-East settlement was rejected today, and the settlement will be completed on Palestinian land. The court appeared to recognize the illegality of the settlement, however, due to the fact residents are currently squatting in their half-built apartments, it was decided the buildings would not be torn down.

However, with full knowledge of the sad reality all over the West Bank that the occupation and the wall still exist, this is still a victory, and yesterday the villagers of Bil’in danced and laughed and rightly congratulated themselves.

More information about the village, its legacy and fight, can be found here:
https://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2007/09/04/bilin-court-decision-victory-for-both-village-and-for-non-violent-struggle/

For now read the thousands of words these pictures speak.

Non-Violent Peace Activist Threatened with Assasination

On Wednesday the 5th Septmember:

At 2:30 in the morning, Israeli Occupation Forces invaded the Old City of Nablus close to the Al Masre school. In doing so they invaded the homes of a number of residents in particular targetting the family home of a local Palestinian human rights actvist. The residents of the activist’s home, as well as the residents of neighbouring houses were forced onto the streets and their homes heavily searched. Sound grenades were thrown and live ammunition was fired scaring the children and shattering the quiet of the streets.

When it became apparent that the Palestinian man was not present the IOF told his family that he must give himself up or that he will be assasinated.

The Palestinian actvist in question has dedicated himself to the non-violent struggle against the illegal occupation of Palestine by the Israeli state. He is a man that carries no weapons and supports other Palestinians and international activists in joining together to resist the occupation through non-violent. His crime essentially that he say’s No to what has been a brutal regime that denigrates and dehumanises the Palestinian people.

Through the Fourth Geneva Convention, Palestinians have the legitimate right to resist the occupation, it is evident therefore that it is Israel that is committing the crime yet it is the Palestinian who acts in accordance with international law that is punished. The Israeli state further commits war crimes through the collective punishment of the family, friends and neighbours of the aforementioned Palestinian through the raids upon their homes and harrasment they are forced to endure.