Support Bil’in amidst the ongoing Israeli arrest and intimidation campaign

Support Bil’in’s struggle

“Just as a simple man named Ghandi led the successful non-violent struggle in India and simple people such as Rosa Parks and Nelson Mandela led the struggle for civil rights in the United States, simple people here in Bil’in are leading a non-violent struggle that will bring them their freedom. The South Africa experience proves that injustice can be dismantled.”
– Archbishop Desmond Tutu, during a visit to Bil’in on 27 August 2009

The Israeli military’s most recent attempt to crush Bil’in village’s ongoing popular non-violent resistance campaign against the Apartheid Wall is a wave of night raids and arrests targeting protesters and the leadership of Bil’in’s Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements.

The recent raids began concurrently with the opening of a legal trial in Montreal.  The village of Bil’in has taken two companies registered in Canada (Green Park International & Green Mount International) to court for participating in war crimes by building settlements on Bil’in’s land under the 2000 Canadian Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Statute  (which incorporates both the articles of the Fourth Geneva Convention and the Rome Statute into Canadian federal law).

According to Bil’in’s attorney Emily Schaeffer, the judge Justice Louis-Paul Cullen is meant to give a decision very soon about whether the Canadian court has jurisdiction to hear Bil’in’s claims.

Since the trail began Israeli forces have arrested 30 people (most of which are under 18). Twenty-one residents of Bil’in remain in Israeli detention.

Through Israel’s interrogation and intimidation tactics, some of arrested youth have falsely ‘confessed’ that the Bil’in Popular Committee urges the demonstrators to throw stones. With such ‘confessions’, Israeli forces then proceed to raid the village at night , invade homes and arrest leaders of the non-violent struggle in the community.

Two of the three popular committee members who traveled to Montreal to represent the villages case , Mohammad Khatib and Mohammad Abu Rahme were arrested and have since been released on bail. (see B’Tselem report: http://www.btselem.org/english/separation_barrier/20090818_night_arrests_in_bilin.asp).

Another leading Bil’in non-violent activist, Adeeb Abu Rahme, remains in detention since his arrest during a non-violent demonstration on 10 July 2009 (see report & video: https://palsolidarity.org/2009/07/7652. Adib has been charged with “incitement to damage the security of the area.”

On 29 August 2009, two additional Bil’in houses were simultaneously raided by at least 40 soldiers, arresting Ashraf Al-Khatib (age 29) and Hamru Bornat (age 24). A local cameraman, Haitham Al-Khatib, brother of the arrested Hamru, was repeatedly forcibly moved and hit, and threatened with arrest unless he stopped filming. Soldiers declared his home a “closed military zone” but could not produce any military order.

What can you do?
Attempts to criminalize the leadership of non-violent protests where curbed in the past with the help of an outpouring of support from people committed to justice from all over the world.

  1. Please protest by contacting your political representatives, as well as your consuls and ambassadors to Israel to demand that Israel stops targeting non-violent popular resistance and release Adib Abu Rahme and all Bil’in prisoners.
  2. The Popular Committee of Bil’in is in desperate need for funds in order to pay legal fees both for the trail in Montréal and for representing the arrested protesters in the military courts and bail.Please donate to the Bil’in legal fund through PayPal. If you would like to make a tax deductible donation in the US or Canada contact: bilinlegal@gmail.com.

    The Bil’in Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements

Background
The Palestinian village of Bil’in has become an international symbol of the Palestinian popular struggle. For almost 5 years, its residents have been continuously struggling against the de facto annexation of more than 50% of their farmlands, confiscated for the construction of the Apartheid Wall.

In a celebrated decision, the Israeli Supreme Court ruled on the 4 September 2007 that the current route of the wall in Bil’in was illegal and needs to be dismantled; the ruling however has not been implemented. The struggle of the village to liberate its lands and stop the illegal settlements has been internationally recognized and has earned the popular committee in Bil’in the Carl von Ossietzky Meda award.

Soldier suspected of killing Palestinian still hasn’t been charged

Anshel Pfeffer | Ha’aretz

31 August 2009

A Military Police investigation into a soldier’s killing of a Palestinian near Hebron in January has been going on for seven and a half months, and there is still no end in sight. Yet the sector commander has been giving briefings for the past few months based on his own inquiry into the incident, which he describes as “a serious failure in moral and professional terms.”

On January 13, 2009, at the height of Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip, Yassir Tamizi, a resident of the village of Idna, was stopped by a patrol of reservists in the Hebron area and brought to an Israel Defense Forces post near Tarkumiya. The soldier guarding the entrance to the post was frightened by Tamizi, who was fighting his arrest because he was worried about his son, who had been left behind when he was taken away. The frightened soldier then shot Tamizi, who died a few hours later from his wounds.

The IDF opened a Military Police investigation, on its own initiative.

But seven and a half months later, no decision has been made over whether to charge the soldiers and officers involved.

At the same time, despite widely varying accounts of what happened, the sector commander, Hebron Brigade Commander Col. Udi Ben Moha, has already drawn his own conclusions based on inquiries he conducted into the event. Ben Moha presents these conclusions to all units operating in his sector.

Ben Moha said that at the beginning of Cast Lead, a reserve battalion was called up to replace the regular soldiers serving in the area. The patrol stopped Tamizi while he was working in a field near the separation fence. Since he did not have his identity card wit him, the soldiers decided to arrest him, even though his 7-year-old son was with him at the time. They put him in the jeep and left his son behind in the field.

The patrol then took Tamizi to the Tarkumiya post and left him – handcuffed and blindfolded – with the guard at the entrance to the post. They did not report the arrest to brigade or battalion headquarters.

Tamizi, who was worried about his son, tried to free himself from the handcuffs. He made a move toward the guard, who became alarmed and shot him three times. One bullet hit Tamizi in the chest, causing his death.

But soldiers from the company involved dispute Ben Moha’s version. They claim Tamizi violently resisted arrest in the field, refused to give them his identity number so they could check on him by radio, and went wild while still in the jeep. At the entrance to the post, they said, Tamizi managed to free his hands and tried to steal the guard’s weapon.

“There was no one to deal with the prisoner and no one to tell us what to do with him,” said one of the soldiers. “They are turning the guard into a scapegoat.”

The guard himself was questioned twice by the Military Police, the second time several months ago. He refused to speak with Haaretz.

The Military Police also questioned Palestinian witnesses, and the investigation has apparently been completed. However, no decision has yet been made on indictments.

The IDF Spokesman confirmed that the investigation is finished and said the case is now awaiting the military prosecution’s decision.

As for Ben Moha’s briefings, the spokesman said, it is normal for a sector commander to brief units new to the sector on recent events. However, at no point did he assign criminal responsibility to the soldier in question.

Ni’lin holds Iftar in olive groves

29 August 2009

Today, the Popular Committee of Ni’lin invited members of the Popular Committee of Bil’in and international and Israeli solidarity activists to join in the breaking of the fast with the residents of Ni’lin.

The women of the village had prepared food for this occasion which the men brought to the field at sunset. Long plastic sheets were stretched out on the ground for people to sit on and to place all the delicious dishes. It was only the men, however, who were eating in the field, the women were meant to stay at home.

The atmosphere was festive. Once everyone finished eating, some of the men spoke about the situation in Ni’lin, the land lost to the Occupation and to the Apartheid Wall.

Sheikh Jarrah residents demonstrate against house evictions

29 August 2009

Sheikh Jarrah residents demonstrate against the ethnic cleansing of East Jerusalem
Sheikh Jarrah residents demonstrate against the ethnic cleansing of East Jerusalem

Two events were held in East Jerusalem on the evening of Saturday, 29th August, to condemn the recent eviction of two Palestinian families from the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, as well as the continuing colonization and land confiscation in the city, practices which are illegal under international law.

A protest organized by the Coalition for Jerusalem was held at 20:30 in front of Damascus Gate just outside the old city, attended by both Palestinians and Israelis as well as international activists. This was followed by a candlelit march of about 30 attendants of the demo, through the streets of East Jerusalem towards the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood.

The march was terminated in front of the recently occupied house of the Al-Gawi family in the neighborhood, in the street where the family has been living and sleeping ever since. It was met there by a large group of 200 to 300 protesters, in a second demonstration organized by the group ‘Rabbis for human rights’. The event had a festive atmosphere, with Palestinian singing, music and dancing, and lasted until well in the night, finishing about half an hour before midnight.

A large force of police and military units oversaw the event from a distance together with security from inside the occupied house, but did not significantly disturb the participants and the event.

Bil’in demonstrates against the Apartheid Wall

Bil’in Popular Committee

28 August 2009

Three injured and dozens were suffocated with tear gas during their participation at Bili’n weekly demonstration against the apartheid wall and the construction of settlements on Bili’n lands. Three protesters: Rani Burnat, Omar Attamemi, and Zuhdya Alkhatib were lightly wounded. The demonstration started at the center of the village directly after the Friday prayers, with participation of international and Israeli peace activists. In addition to Qais Abu Laila (PLC member) and a number of other comrades and members of the Palestinian National Council from the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Mr. Abu Laila and his comrades have met with representatives of the popular committee and listened to a clear explanation of them on the experience of Bil’in struggle during the past four and a half years. Although Ali Faysal one of the PNC members in Lebanon expressed his support to Bil’in struggle and he emphasized on the continuation of the struggle against the wall and the settlements.

On other hand, the PFLP revived the eighth anniversary of the martyrdom of the leader Abu Ali Mustafa who was assassinated by the Israeli aircraft, thus the participants raised pictures of Abu Ali Mustafa, Palestinian flags and slogans condemning the occupation. While the Comrade Khalida Jarar (PFLP member) had a speech about Abu Ali Mustafa and he stressed the need for national unity, and continuing struggle against the occupation.

Demonstrators walked in the village streets chanting and calling for national unity, reviving comrades from abroad, and glorifying the memory of the martyr (Abu Ali Mustafa). Upon their arrival to the wall, a group of demonstrators who wear uniforms of workers tried to dismantle the wall, to express that the Israeli has to remove the wall and to implement the resolution issued by the Israeli Supreme Court to remove the wall. The Israeli soldiers reply was throwing gas and sound bombs, were dozens were suffocated with tear gas.

On the other side, a delegation from “The Elders” organization visited Bil’in yesterday, as they had a clear idea about the suffering of Bil’in’s people, as the Delegation has expressed its solidarity with the people of Bil’in and their rejection of the settlements on their land. The organization was founded by Mr. Nelson Mandela , as it includes a group of prominent leaders in the world, Mr.Jimmy Carter, Mr. Desmond Tutu, Mr. Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Ms. Mary Robinson, and Ayla Bhatt, Gro Brundtland, the delegation was accompanied by two business men; Richard Branson, and Jeff Skoll.

The delegation visited the wall where they saw how the wall confiscates half of Bilin’s lands, although they visited the place of the weekly demonstrations at the wall area in Bil’in village, as the huge number of tear gas and sound bombs bottles were on the ground everywhere. The delegation put up a memorial on the memorial of the martyr Basem Abu Rahma.