In the continuation of the non-violent resistance to the annexation wall in the Palestinian village of Bil’in, demonstrators carried a model of the wall with the sentence “You will not impose your wall on us” written in Arabic. The 150 Palestinian, Israeli and international activists were, as usual, prevented from reaching the wall by Israeli soldiers and Border Police. As demonstrators attempted to pass the line of soldiers, sound grenades were thrown and activists were beaten with wooden clubs by the Israeli forces. One Palestinian man was clubbed in the head and taken away in a Palestinian ambulance, and several others had minor injuries.
During a calmer period of the demonstration, a small ceremony was held to honor and thank one international activist who has spent almost 2 months living in Bil’in. He helped protect the outpost which was built on the Bil’in lands which the wall effectively annexes to the Israeli settlement. The outpost was built as a Peace Center for the joint Palestinian, Israeli and international struggle against the wall.
Several activists succeeded in getting around the army line and banged on a metal gate with stones. One by one soldiers brutally dragged them back to “their” side of the imaginary line which the soldiers had drawn. Imaginary line because in actuality all of the area, including the wall construction site and the settlement, belongs to Bil’in village. As the demonstration continued more and more activists were able to get around the soldiers to bang stones on the metal fence, and the soldiers gave up on trying to drag them all back behind the army line. Even though about half the demonstrators had already passed this line, soldiers continued to be very forceful in their attempts to block more people from crossing.
Towards the end of the non-violent demonstration, a few hundred meters away, a couple of village youth and Israeli soldiers were engaged in their weekly battle of stones versus tear gas and rubber-coated steel bullets. After most of the demonstrators had returned to the village, at least a dozen live ammunition shots were heard coming from this direction.
Since January 2005, there have been regular demonstrations in Bil’in against the apartheid wall being constructed in the West Bank. The wall has divided Palestinian towns, destroyed homes, removed access to fertile land and imprisoned the Palestinian people.
The town of Biddu was one of the villages that succeeded in Its campaign to divert the route of the wall, but five Palestinians lost their lives in that campaign. Four of those killed were shot during the first demonstration, yet the town kept on fighting. Actions in villages like Budrus and Biddu also helped get many locals involved in anti-wall demonstrations in other villages. Nine Palestinians in total have been killed in anti-wall demonstrations.
There are rallies every week after Friday afternoon prayers in Bil’in, Abud and Beit Sira, and since March 4, weekly Saturday demonstrations are organised in Tulkarem, where the wall has cut off nearby villages such as Jubara. The rallies are organised by popular committees in each village and are supported by international solidarity activists and Israelis.
In Beit Sira, people have planted olive trees to replace those the army tore down and in Abud the demonstrations have involved burning army blankets used to flatten the road. In Bil’in, the villagers have organised mock lynchings on the wall, international conferences attracting hundreds of participants and soccer games across the wall. They also use mirrors to reflect messages like “Stop the wall” onto soldiers’ flack jackets.
Bil’in villagers have also constructed two outposts on the other side of the wall, facing multiple illegal Israeli settlements. The army would like to destroy these small rooms. Every night, Palestinians and international activists camp out at the outposts to have fun together and express their solidarity.
The number of villages wanting to take action is growing. The ISM, the International Women’s Peace Service and Operation Dove have all contributed to the success of the demonstrations, along with Israeli activists ho commute to the West Bank each week to support their Palestinian comrades. The impact of the Israeli presence at the demonstrations is significant – an Israeli border police officer admitted in court that police are given different shooting instructions if there are Israelis in protest crowds.
Yet injuries and deaths have still occurred and even Israelis aren’t safe from being harmed. On February 24, 17-year-old Israeli activist Matan Cohen was shot in the eye by a “rubber” bullet (metal coated with a millimetre of plastic) at a demonstration in Beit Sira. He may lose much, if not all, of his sight in that eye. Palestinian demonstrator Hussni Rayan was also shot at close range with a steel rubber coated bullet that entered 8cm into his body during the protest.
Harrison Healy is a member of the Australian socialist youth organisation Resistance. He is currently working with the ISM in Palestine.
This Wednesday, 15 March 2006, at 8:00 am, the High Court of Justice will hold a hearing on the petition of Peace Now and the Head of the Council of Bil’in against the construction of the Matityahu East neighborhood on the lands of the village west of the barrier’s route.
The hearing will take place in Hall D at the Supreme Court in Jerusalem, in front of Judges Barak, Rivlin and Prokachya.
In early January, the petition (number 143/06) was filed, after it had been revealed that the new neighborhood is being built against planning and construction laws, and under a new scheme not yet approved. On January 12, Judge Prokachya issued a temporary injunction, forbidding any further building in the compound, as well as banning any new residents from entering the flats.
The petition has direct implications for the barrier. The State already admitted that the route of the fence on the lands of Bil’in was designed to allow the construction of the Matityahu East
neighborhood.
For further information:
Michael Sfard (Attorney): 054 471 39 30
Dror Etkes (Settlement Watch, Peace Now): 054 489 93 51, 02 566 06 48
The weekly non-violent protests against the Israeli Apartheid wall continued this Friday in Bil’in, with Palestinians from the village uniting once again with Internationals and Israelis in a display of resistance to the ongoing theft of their village’s land. Today’s demonstration featured a large tomb which symbolized all the people and villages that are being killed by the wall. Written on it was “RIP, Victims; Villages who’s land was stolen, Reason; The Wall and the Occupation, Year 2006.”
The demonstrators proceeded to the wall site, where the soldiers quickly destroyed the tomb, using sound bombs at very close range to the crowd. The Israeli, International and Palestinian demonstrators refused to leave the area and resisted much violence by the Border Police and soldiers in doing so.
Israeli Military seen destroying the tomb
Within an hour’s time, two Israeli protesters were detained, and the Popular Committee Members asked everyone to begin returning to the village, where another group of soldiers were advancing into the village, firing tear gas and rubber bullets.
By forming a line between the Palestinians, the Internationals and Israelis were able to help prevent a Border Policeman (who was using the retreating people as cover) from arresting a young Palestinian child. The crowd then returned to the wall site in defiance of the Israeli Military forces, extending the protest.
When the demo by the wall finally ended, the activists were able to use their presence to help remove the soldiers from the village, where they were inciting stone-throwing by the village youth, but only after firing over 20 tear gas canisters in rapid succession.
Abdullah Abu Rahma, coordinator of the Popular Committee Against the Wall, states “the presence of the army is provocation, their checkpoints, wall, settlement activities and land grab are direct violations to our rights, and the international law”, Abu Rahma added, “We have a protest center behind the Wall, we always protest peacefully there, we have the right to resist the occupation and to resist the land expropriation policy practiced against us”.
The people of Bil’in are using the symbols and language employed by Israel for the theft of Palestinian land in a bid to hold onto village land that Israel is attempting to annex for the Wall and settlements. The Israeli government’s efforts to remove the Palestinian outpost contrast starkly with Israeli government’s support for the establishment of hundreds of illegal Israeli settlements and outposts throughout the West Bank. Approximately half of Bil’in’s lands are being isolated from the village by the Wall. The village will lose at least 1,950 dunams if the Wall is not removed.
The struggle of Bil’in has been going on for over a year, and their will to resist the Occupation and the Apartheid Wall has not diminished. The International Solidarity Movement (ISM) is calling for volunteers to come to Palestine and continue our support of Bil’in’s non-violent resistance during ISM’s Spring and Summer Campaigns.
The weekly non-violent protests against the Israeli Apartheid wall continued this Friday in Bil’in and Beit Sira, with Palestinians from both villages uniting once again with Internationals and Israelis in a display of resistance to the ongoing theft of their villages’ land for the construction of the Apartheid Wall.
After the morning direct action against the Wall in Bi’in, the focus moved to Beit Sira where the village has begun its wall struggle in the past weeks. The Route of the wall in Beit Sira is designed to annex the Makabim settlement and more of Beit Sira’s land to Israel. Ismael Mahmoud, a member of the popular committee against the wall, told ISM that the Israeli military previously uprooted more than 1500 of the village olive trees to build a barrier that will isolate more than 800 dunnms of land from the village
Today’s march was attended by over 500 people, including many Palestinians from Bil’in and Israelis that were injured in the morning action, and International activists. The crowd marched from village to lands destroyed by wall construction, alongside the settlement of Maccabim.
Soon, the crowd approached Border Police and Israeli Military, but were able to pass them, despite their shoving and walk around to the adjacent road. A were dismayed to see some of the same border police unit who had shot from close range both Matan Cohen, 17, from Tel Aviv, and a member of the “Anarchists Against the Fence” organization in the eye and Hussni Rayan of Beit Sira .
After changing direction and moving onto the road, the demonstrators were able to surround a military jeep by Palestinians with only olive branches, flags and a megaphone against a full array of Israeli weaponry. The Border Police stormed the demonstrators in an attempt to break the peaceful crowd up, using their batons and sheilds to beat the unarmed people as well as throwing sound bombs. While doing this, a few border police fell off the road into the olive orchards and number of people were injured by further Israeli violence.
In a few minutes the situation calmed down, and the people of Beit Sira were able to give speeches, discussing the wall and the political situation in Palestine. While this was happening, ISM volunteers observed the border police getting their sound bombs and tear gas ready for use against the unarmed demonstrators.
soldiers seen here preparing sound bombs and tear gas grenades to attack the peaceful crowd
As the protest ended and the people began to walk away, they began their assault, which provoked stone throwing by the local young boys. The struggle of Beit Sira will continue, with more protests scheduled for the coming weeks.
Activists left for Bil’in after the Bet Sira demo ended, with reports of soldiers entering the village. When we reached we found the IOF was confronting stone throwing youth with tear gas and rubber bullets in a very dangerous manner.
About thirty Israeli, International and Palestinian activists then marched towards the soldiers andsucseeded in stopping their firing at the boys.
Once they reached the wall, the Palestinians showed court papers to the soldiers supporting their right to access land which has been closed off by the Wall.
Citing a closed military zone order, the protesters refused to leave and sat down in front of the army jeeps and a large number of Israeli Military.
After 20 minutes, the Popular Committee decided to leave the area and return to the village. Some tear gas was fired after the activists’ departure, but for the most part things remained calm.
Recently, Bil’in has expanded what is the first Palestinian settlement, located west of the barrier, as well as a second outpost nearby. Abdullah Abu Rahma, coordinator of the Popular Committee Against the Wall, says that they installed the house near the Wall as yet another way to protest against land expropriation for settlement construction and expansion. With over a year of struggle behind them, their will to resist the Occupation and the Apartheid Wall has not diminished at all.
The International Solidarity Movement (ISM) is inviting volunteers to come to Palestine for a conference on Joint Nonviolent Struggle in Bil’in and for ISM’s Spring and Summer Campaigns. ISM’s Spring Campaign will take place between March 1st and April 23rd, 2006, and Freedom Summer will be from July 2 until August 5, 2006.
for more photos please look at these links:
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/060303/ids_photos_wl/r2786024919.jpg
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/060303/ids_photos_wl/r1208802481.jpg
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/060303/481/jrl10303031009
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/060303/481/jrl10503031010
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/060303/480/jrl12703031602
