Tag: Bil’in

Ashraf Abu Rahmah in the midst of circus military court

by Maria Stephanya

28 October 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

The proof is all there: photos, videos, witnesses. All of them showed that Ashraf Abu Rahmah, one of the main activists of popular non violent struggle in the village of Bil’in, Palestine, walked peacefully on the road which goes from Bil’in’s recent liberated land to the center of the village, when an Israeli jeep passed besides him. Then it stopped. The soldiers stepped down, took the flag Ashraf carried and arrested him, forcing him to enter in the back of the vehicle under arrest, on October 23rd.

Rani Burnet, who saw everything in his wheelchair – part of his body was paralyzed because of live ammunition shot by an Israeli soldier, 11 years ago – complained.

In spite of lack of evidence to support charges brought against Abu Rahmah, in spite of the witnesses and the video which prove otherwise, Captain Tzvi Frenkel, a military judge at the Ofer Military Court, ordered the indefinite extension of his arrest, until the end of legal procedures against him.

In July 7th, 2008, Ashraf was blindfolded and bound in Ni’lin when the soldiers shot his foot. The video, seen by millions of people around the world, caused international protests. In April 17th, 2009, his brother Bassem was shot dead while trying to alert the soldiers for not harming livestock which was passing on the road beyond the wall. A high-velocity tear gas projectile, aimed at him from a distance of 40 meter hit him in the chest, killing him. In January 1st, 2011, their sister Jawaher also passed away because of the effects of the massive amount of toxic tear gas she had inhaled during a peaceful demonstration of December 31, 2011.

Maria Stephanya is an activist with International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).

Ashraf Abu Rahmah was arrested for being himself

23 October 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

To some soldiers of the Israeli army, staying alone, being quiet, and carrying a flag is a crime. To them, people who act in that way should be arrested. At least we can come to that conclusion when we think about the arrest of Ashraf Abu Rahmah, from Bil’in village, who was arrested on Friday, October 21.

The demonstration had not yet finished when the Israeli soldiers, in four jeeps, went into the village. It was a surprise to everyone, but not an unexpected act, because Israeli incursions into Palestinian villages is something regular. The surprise comes because people were going home, far from the place of the demonstration. Ashraf was arrested just on his way home.

He was charged with throwing stones, but he did not throw anything not at the time he was arrested, nor during demonstration itself. He just stood with his Palestinian flag, talking to friends, looking at the bombs that were thrown, running away from the gas, sometimes coming close to the barbed wire which rolls through Palestinian land.

The ISM volunteers can testify that Ashraf did not throw stones at any moment. But he will be dragged to court tomorrow under that charge. Journalists and friends will take photos with them to prove that he wasn’t throwing stones.

Last Friday’s demonstration was one of the most violent ones in recent times in Bil’in. When the Palestinian, Israeli, and foreigner activists came near the wall, the soldiers began to throw tear gas without pausing. The park which is being built by the villagers on the lands Israel was obligated to give back, lands it had stolen after a decision by the Israeli Supreme Court in 2007, was full of gas and dust for a long time.

Ashraf Abu Rahmah’s last peaceful demonstration – For more images click here

People who were on the top of the hill, far from the valley where the confrontation took place, also suffered from the burning smoke. Some cases of asphyxia were registered because of the gas inhalation, and the flames in brush and olive groves decorated the sky. Some of them became great fires, the trees and other plants.

To the economical life of villagers, it means a great loss, because the economic basis of Bil’in is agricultural, like the majority of Palestine’s villages. And to some, Ashraf being taken away on false charges by an occupying power can in some way be labeled as a loss. Yet the trees and plants and landscape that are Palestine, they can be replanted  to grow a new future. That is the nature of Palestine. Ashraf will grow back in Bil’in. In shrub, tree, or voice , peaceful resistance will continue to grow from the root that is Palestine.

Ashraf Abu Rahmah, brother of two Bil’in casualties, arrested during protest

22 October 2011 | Popular Struggle Coordination Committee

Ashraf Abu Rahma, brother of Bassem and Jawaher Abu Rahma who were killed by the Israeli army in Bil’in is falsely accused of stone-throwing and was sent to Ofer Prison.  Ashraf himself was shot in the leg by the army while cuffed and blindfolded in a scandalous incident in 2008.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRsgnegNY5M&version=3&hl=en_US

The weekly demonstration in Bil’in this week started as usual, as some several dozen residents were joined by Israeli and international activists for a march against the Wall. The protesters, led by the new Libyan flag, marched to the new route of the wall, where the soldiers met them with tear-gas. Since the spot was hard to hit, the soldiers retaliated by shooting canisters into the oak grove downwind behind the protesters, setting fire to some rare and ancient oaks. The demonstrators moved upwind, eastward along the wall, where clashed between local youth and the army persisted for about an hour.

When the demonstrators were heading back, the soldiers decided to cross the gate into the village and attacked the unarmed demonstrators. During their incursion, soldiers jumped and arrested Ashraf Abu Rahmah, brother of Bassem and Jawaher, the two unarmed demonstrators killed by the Israeli army in Bil’in. Ashraf himself shot in the foot by soldiers while bound and blindfolded in the neighboring village of Ni’ilin in 2008.

The soldiers promised to release him if the demonstration was dispersed, which was already the case at the time, but did not fulfil their promise. Two army jeeps then drove through the village and eventually left with Ashraf. He is falsely accused of stone-throwing & sent to Ofer Prison on a 96 hours warrant, in complete disregard of his medical condition.

 

The lonely olive tree of Bil’in

14 October 2011  | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

Near the concrete wall which separates Bil’in from Modiin Illit colony, occupied by ultra-Orthodox Jews, there is an olive tree.  It is impossible to know how it survived the construction of the wall and how it continues to resist to the lack of a few cares that the specie demands – a lack caused by the Israeli barbed wire fence that prevents the access of the residents to the point where it is, in the buffer zone.  This survivor came to the attention of the villagers since some time ago. Today they finally managed to breach the fence and to go to the lonely olive tree for harvest.

Fire caused by tear gas canisters

The tear gas grenades fired by Israeli soldiers, who lurked on the other side of the wall, attempted to prevent the harvest, a time of year that mobilizes the entire population of Palestine. One of the canisters fell on dried plants, and the heat of the metal caused a fire which the residents were able to control. Spread by the strong wind the gases reached even the activists more distant from the site – people from the village, from Israel and from around the world –causing suffocation, burning eyes and skin.

October 14th’s demonstration was dedicated to Palestinian political prisoners on hunger strike and to the beginning of the olive harvest.

 

Bil’in takes art as a means of resistance

30 September 2011 | Popular Committee against the Wall and Settlement of Bil’in

Dozens of demonstrators were asphyxiated by tear gas during the weekly march organized by the Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements in Bil’in. Present at the demonstration were Chairmen of the Advisory Council for a Green Palestine, Basem al Masri and Dr. Sabri Saydam, a member of the Central Committee of Fatah, Sultan Aboul-Enein, Adviser to the Prime Minister, Dr. Jawad Naji, the artist Ahlam Faqih, and dozens of Palestinians and international and Israeli peace activists. 
 
The march began from the center of the village after Friday prayers, as participants marched through village lands liberated in June, waving Palestinian flags and banners of imprisoned leader Marwan Barghouti. They chanted patriotic slogans calling for the end of the Israeli Occupation, the destruction of the Apartheid wall, and the upholding of Palestinian rights. Upon the arrival of participants to the al-Thahar area, where Bassem Abu-Rahma was shot and killed in 2009, the Advisory Council for a Green Palestine announced the start of a new green project in the village of Bil’in, which will involve olive tree-planting and the installation of solar-powered street lamps.
The speech was delivered by Bassem al-Masri, who called on all residents to join hands to end the Occupation through the implementation of projects and self-reliance, and said that they will rebuild, replant, and continue their struggle by developing the lands destroyed by the Occupation.After the speech, participants headed towards the Abu Lemon area, where Sultan Aboul-Enein declared the opening of Ahlam Faqih’s art exhibition, an expression of solidarity with the people of Bil’in and their battle against the Wall. Aboul-Enein declared the need for solidarity with the people of Bil’in, and said that artists play a large role in supporting the Palestinian cause in the face of the Occupation.

Participants then marched along the wire fence adjacent to the wall. Traditionally, during the demonstrations, the Israeli Occupation Forces fire tear gas on the participants after a few minutes of peaceful protest. At today’s demonstration, stones were thrown over the concrete wall from the front of the demonstration by a group of youths from the village. Immediately, soldiers stationed behind the wall fired tear gas around the demonstration and art exhibition, preventing participants from escaping the gas for hundreds of meters. Dozens were asphyxiated and several were treated by a team from the Palestinian Red Crescent ambulance.
The gas canisters also ignited a fire in the olive groves adjacent to the wall, but the participants were able to control and extinguish the fire. No other incidents were reported.