Yesterday, the first of September, Joy persisted through the dismay and hopelessness of occupation. A group called the Media Youth Collective came to the village of Bil’in bearing the tools of Renoir, Kahlo, Van Gough and others; they came with art supplies. This group of 5-10 high school and college-age avengers met quite a large group of 20-30 young girls and boys from the village to paint pictures and paint faces. The event arose much livliehood and light-heartedness to this community who has seen unpredictable, unexpected incursions by soldiers twice already this week.
Yet, for those of you who have paid attention or experienced the resistance that this village has diplayed, creativity is not a fogotten factor, but more commonly a blazing medium, a way to demonstrate intelligently what lies and broken promises have been committed by the Israeli, U.S., and U.N. governing bodies.
The might that is wielded by the art of this resistance, will have a crucial role in the liberation of an occupied people.
About 10 pm last night, soldiers came roaring into Bil’in, coming down the road by the school and throwing sound bombs at the village. As they continued down the road to the mosque, they began throwing tear gas as well.
They were met at the mosque by boys throwing stones, giving them an excuse to throw another tear gas container. A Palestinian man was shot in the shoulder by a rubber bullet as he was trying to stop the boys from throwing stones.
The soldiers apparently set up a temporary checkpoint at the end of the village close to the house they had threatened to burn down just two nights before.
After an hour, they left, and the village returned to as normal a routine as a village can that is under occupation. These incursions are now happening every other night and at different hours, making life impossible for the children.
About 4 am, Abdullah woke us up and said there were soldiers in the village. Both of us went up on to the roof to listen to the phone conversation he was having people in one of the houses. It was down the road that is close to the construction and had been invaded. The soldiers told the people that shabob were throwing stones from the roof and, if they caught them throwing stones again, or even caught them near the wall, they would come back and burn the house down.
About ten minutes later, someone else called and said the soldiers were now at the supermarket, which is quite a ways into the village. We got in the car, drove down to the supermarket, and got out to talk to the soldiers.
However, when they saw us, they began to walk away very quickly, back toward the wall construction. We walked behind them, following them past the house that had been invaded, and they then disappeared down the road.
The villagers are more comfortable having internationals in Bil’in, because there appear to be fewer invasions into the village while we are here.
The demonstration of Bil’in last Friday was a direct message to the UN, I think that message was “The UN is blind to see the crimes against Palestinians and cannot rule against the Israeli government, because Israel is shutting everyone up”.
16 Internationals and Israelis (the number of the security council members of the UN) were at the front line of the demonstration, blindfolded, with Israeli flags over their eyes, strips of tape over their mouths, and UN posters attached on their shirts. As soon the demonstration reached the barbed razor wire where the Israeli military was standing fully geared, the 16 Internationals and Israelis played catch with a ball painted with the color of the Palestinian flag.
One of the farmers of Bili’n managed to stick a sign “this weapon kills peace” on a soldier’s weapon. Eight soldiers rushed after him, but the demonstrators stayed calm and continued chanting and singing. After about 15 minutes, one of the local coordinators decided that the message had been conveyed, and then the demonstrators took a side road, which leads to the construction site.
The Israeli army fired sound grenades and teargas into the crowd. I was running backwards to avoid being hit with the teargas canisters. A 61-yearold woman was shot with a teargas canister on the back of the head and taken to the ambulance. I was standing behind a group of demonstrators watching some of the Israeli army dragging some protestors on the ground after we were pushed back.
A group of seven soldiers were in the village firing rubber bullets at children who were throwing stones. But no stones were thrown for at least 15 minutes after the soldiers started to fire tear gas. Later they began firing live ammunition. I told a friend of mine we should go to the place where the soldiers were shooting to see what’s happening; we decided to go together!
Two soldiers were firing live ammunition at kids inside the village, I immediately shouted in Hebrew “Don’t shoot!” We walked quickly towards the soldiers and blocked them from shooting; we were standing with both hands on the back of our heads. While passing some phrases in Hebrew to my friend, one of the soldiers took an aiming position at the other side and shot a round of live ammunition at the children.
After 10 minutes, the rest of demonstrators were pushed back into the village where I was standing, as the soldiers fired teargas and sound grenades. More soldiers arrived. I went to the ambulance for treatment, because I had inhaled teargas, and came back after 10 minutes to sit on the ground with the rest of demonstrators, blocking the Israeli army from proceeding inside the village.
While we were all sitting on the ground, the army used their shields to attack the demonstrators. One soldier grabbed my shirt and said, “You are next”. Four soldiers rushed between the houses to arrest some children and occupied a rooftop of one under construction to shoot rubber bullets. I volunteered to join a group of Internationals and Israeli activists to go to the sight and try to stop the army from shooting.
The demonstration lasted for more than three hours before the committee against the Wall called it off for that day.
What came to my mind after that day is, would the UN know that the Israeli army used force and illegal ammunition against peaceful demonstrators? Would the UN know that the Israeli government did not comply with the ruling of the International Court of Justice to stop building the Wall? Would the UN know that nine Palestinians were killed by Israeli soldiers in peaceful protests against building the Wall in their villages? Would the UN know that Israel is building ghettos?
