Tag: Bil’in

High Court Wants Answers from the State; Bil’in Decision Coming Soon…


(Israeli peace activists and Palestinians from Bil’in demonstrate together in front of the High Court of Justice)

1.High Court: State must explain why it won’t move separation fence in Bil’in
By Yuval Yoaz, Haaretz Correspondent

The High Court of Justice on Thursday ordered the state prosecutor to explain why Israel won’t alter the route of the separation fence where it passes over land belonging to the West Bank Palestinian village of Bil’in.

The state was given three weeks to explain why the fence can’t be moved west, toward the Upper Modi’in settlement, so that it won’t pass over Bil’in agricultural lands.

The High Court issued the preliminary injunction at the request of Bil’in residents, who are petitioning the court to order the state to alter the fence route in the area.

On Wednesday, lawyer Michael Sfard told the court the current fence route was not determined by security considerations, as the state maintains. Sfard said the fence route was designed to allow the eastward expansion of Upper Modi’in.

He also said the fence route allows the building of the new Matityahu East neighborhood. As was first published in Haaretz, illegal construction, without any building permits or legal building plan, is currently underway on the neighborhood.

“We had thought that the fence administration was building a fence,” Sfard said. “But now it is clear that the fence administration is building new illegal neighborhoods in settlements.”

The fence separates the village of Bil’in from a large portion of its agricultural lands.

The Matityahu East neighborhood has 750 housing units and another 2,000 are planned. The lands on which the neighborhood is being constructed belong to Bil’in residents. Portions of the land were obtained using documents suspected to have been forged.

Bili’n on the streets of Tel Aviv


for more pictures see Activiststill

Protest art – Now you see it, now they rip it down- by Noa Yachot from Haaretz The latest art gallery in Tel Aviv is the city itself. Alternately put up – and ripped down from – a half-dozen city sidewalk locales, is an exhibit of photographs depicting the weekly struggles between Israeli security forces and Palestinian, Israeli and international activists protesting the construction of the separation fence in the Palestinian village of Bil’in in the West Bank.

Read the entire article in Haaretz

14-Year Old Shot and Korean Activist Beaten by IOF; The Struggle of Bil’in Continues

by Henry

(This sign was placed by the military on razor wire in an area where the foundation for the Annexation Wall are being prepared reads: “MORTAL DANGER – MILITARY ZONE Any person who passes or damages the fence ENDANGERS HIS LIFE”)

The weekly non-violent protests against the Israelis Apartheid wall continued yesterday, when Palestinians from the village of Bil’in displayed their resistence to the ongoing theft of their village’s land.

During the protest, two Palestinian residents, including a child, and one Korean peace activist, were injured. Abdullah Abu Rahma, coordinator of the Popular Committee Against the Wall reported that one child, identified as Ahmad Zohdi Ash’al, 14, suffered moderate wounds after being hit by a rubber-coated bullet fired by the army.

Accompanied by international and Israeli activists, the crowd of approximately 200 people marched to the construction site where the Apartheid Wall is gradually cutting off the village from much of its land. The IOF and Israeli Border Police were on hand to prevent the demonstrators from crossing the barrier and reaching the recently established “Centre for Joint Struggle” adjacent to the illegal settlement outpost of Metityahu Mizrah.

(Seen in the background is the winding path of the Apartheid Wall and nearby settlement construction)

Although most of the demonstrators were quickly surrounded by the Israeli military, a small group of Israeli and Palestinian demonstrators were able to evade their control. Soon, they too were treated harshly by the Israeli Military, who detained three Israelis for approximately one hour. After securing their release, the group returned to the main group and chanted on top of a nearby gravel mound. Surrounding them was a surreal scene created by the construction of the wall; huge amounts of razor wire, destroyed agricultural land, and soon-to-be uprooted olive trees.

Approximately half of Bil’in’s lands are being isolated from the village by the Wall. The Israeli government argues that the route of the wall in Bil’in was determined purely for security reasons. However, a brief visit to the village shows this to be false.

The olive groves were in a cloud of teargas, and soldiers fired rubber-coated metal bullets at will while the demonstrators started to walked back towards the village, determined to continue the non-violent resistance against the Apartheid Wall and the Israeli Occupation.

15 hurt in fence protest

by Ali Waked for Ynet
Anti-fence protesters, security forces clash near Palestinian village of Bilin.

About 15 protesters have been injured on Friday in clashes between security forces and protesters against the West Bank security fence during a weekling demonstration held by Palestinians and Israeli leftists in Bilin, a Palestinian village between Ramallah and Modi’in.

Fatah candidates for the upcoming Palestinian elections joined hundreds of protesters who claimed they had managed to dismantle five meters of the wired fence.

Protesters defied an IDF ban on entering the fence stretches near Bilin, scuffling with security forces who used tear gas to disperse the crowd who attempted to force its way to an outpost set up by leftists near Bilin.

Demonstrators complained of excessive force applied by security forces, saying certain individuals were beaten up. Despite stringent security measures a number of protesters permeated the line of riot police and reached the outpost, where they held signs condemning Israel’s confiscation of Beilain land to build the fence and expand a nearby Jewish settlement.

The High Court of Justice is set to rule early next month on a petition against government orders to expropriate Bilin land, but many protesters fear the IDF will defy the court.

Mohammad Khatib, a member of a Bilin council leading the campaign against the fence, said: “If there is justice in Israel, the court should rule that the expansion of the settlement is illegal and it should rule that the fence should be rerouted near the settlement. We have no faith in the justice system of the occupation and I do not believe a decision will be made in our favor.”

The IDF said protesters instigated the riots as they hurled stones at security forces.

Efrat Weiss contributed to this report

Thousands Challenge Israeli Apartheid in Bil’in

by Henry

Today, Friday the 20th of January, candidates from all Palestinian political parties and factions, including Hamas, Fatah, Al Mubadara, Democracy Front, Independent and others came to the villagers of Bil’in. There they were joined by over 300 Israeli activists, 100 Internationals and many Palestinians from the surrounding area. It was one of the most impressive gatherings of Palestinians, Israelis and Internationals in Bil’in, in what is now close to a year-long struggle against the theft of their lands by the Apartheid Wall.

At 12:30 PM, close to 2000 people marched through the lands of Bil’in to the construction site of the Apartheid Wall. At the site were over fifty Israeli Military, Police, and Border Policemen. They became violent towards the crowd very quickly, using their batons, sound bombs, against unarmed demonstrators.

Beyond the wall, which is still the land of Bil’in village, the people of Bil’in have built an ‘outpost,’ adjacent to the illegal Jewish settlement outpost Matityahu Mizrah. That has been rendered inaccessible to the villagers by the annexation barrier. After an hour of non-violent struggling with the Israeli Military, 200 to 300 demonstrators were able to break through the lines of the Israeli Military and continue past the site of the wall towards the Palestinian ‘outpost.’

Demonstrators walking to the Palestinian ‘outpost.’ In the distance is the illegal settlement outpost of Matityahu Mizrah

They were followed there by approximately 20-30 soldiers, but they were powerless to stop the crowd from gathering at the Bil’in outpost. Joining the Popular Committee Against the Wall in Bil’in were electoral candidates, Qais Abu Leila from Democracy Front, Abu Ala from Fatah as well as Uri Avnery and other members of Gush Shalom, and other Israelis and internationals.

Soon the people left the outpost to rejoin the rest of the demonstrators at the wall site, where soldiers had been firing tear gas canisters and some rubber-coated metal bullets as well. Once the groups had rejoined, the international and Israeli activists gathered with the people of Bil’in near a metal gate located near the wall and continued the demonstration against the Wall.

This was met by a coordinated attack by the Israeli Police and Military forces, who were determined to detain Palestinian and/or Israeli activists by force. In the past months, this has been a favorite tactic of the IOF; they detain and beat Palestinian demonstrators and then use them as leverage to end the demonstration.

Despite their use of force and beatings, the IOF was unable to arrest any of the Palestinians, as the activists were able to de-arrest as many as five Palestinians that the IOF attempted to detain. One Israeli was arrested, and beaten in the process, but he was released after the conclusion of the demonstration.

According to Abdullah Abu Rahma, coordinator of the Popular Committee Against the Wall in Bil’in, “We marched towards the Separation Wall construction site, and the army met our peaceful procession with extreme violence”, Abu Rahma also reported that “dozens were injured after soldiers fired rubber-coated bullets and gas bombs; Israeli soldiers also hit several residents with batons”.

By 4:00 PM, the demonstration was at an end and the people were returning to the village. It was a successful day of unity and solidarity for the Palestinians and their supporters in the struggle against the Wall, but it was even more important for the people of Bil’in, who have continued their struggle without fail for almost a year.

Abdullah Abu Rahma also stated that “the people, and the candidates of different factions, and the independent candidates, proved that in spite of our differences we remain a united nation, joint in its struggle against the occupation and the annexation policy.”