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Bil’in to welcome members of Shministim at Friday demonstration

For Immediate Release:

The West Bank village of Bil’in will hold a demonstration this Friday, 23 October 2009 at 12pm.

Members of Shministim (Hebrew for high school seniors), the Israeli organization of teenagers who refuse to serve in the Israeli Army, will join the weekly Bil’in demonstration this Friday.

According to members of the Shministim, “Out of sense of responsibility and concern for the two nations that live in this country, we cannot stand idle. We were born into a reality of occupation, and many of our generation see this as a “natural” state. In Israeli society it is a matter of fact that at 18, every young man and woman partakes in military service. However, we cannot ignore the truth – the occupation is an extreme situation, violent, racist, inhuman, illegal, non democratic, and immoral, that is life threatening for both nations. We that have been brought up on values of liberty, justice, righteousness and peace cannot accept it.

Our objection to becoming soldiers of the occupation stems from our loyalty to our values and to the society surrounding us, and it is part of our ongoing struggle for peace and equality, a struggle whose Jewish-Arab nature proves that peace and co-existence is possible. This is our way, and we are willing to pay the price.”

Background

The West Bank village of Bil’in is located 12 kilometers west of Ramallah and 4 km east of the Green Line. It is an agricultural village, around 4,000 dunams (988 acres) in size, and populated by approximately 1,800 residents.

Starting in the early 1980’s, and more significantly in 1991, approximately 56% of Bil’in’s agricultural land was declared ‘State Land’ for the construction of the settlement bloc, Modi’in Illit. Modi’in Illit holds the largest settler population of any settlement bloc, with over 42,000 residents and plans to achieve a population of 150,000 by 2020.

In 2004, the International Court of Justice ruled that the Wall in its entirety is illegal under international law, particularly under International Humanitarian Law. The Court went on to rule that Israel’s settlements are illegal under the same laws, noting that the Wall’s route is intimately connected to the settlements adjacent to the Green Line, further annexing 16% of the West Bank to Israel.

Despite the advisory opinion, early in 2005, Israel began constructing the separation Wall on Bil’in’s land, cutting the village in half in order to place Modi’in Illit and its future growth on the “Israeli side” of the Wall.

In March 2005, Bil’in residents began to organize almost daily direct actions and demonstrations against the theft of their lands. Gaining the attention of the international community with their creativity and perseverance, Bil’in has become a symbol for popular resistance. Almost five years later, Bil’in continues to have weekly Friday protests.

Bil’in has held annual conferences on popular resistance since 2006, providing a forum for activists, intellectuals, and leaders to discuss strategies for the non-violent struggle against the Occupation.

Israeli forces have used sound and shock grenades, water cannons, rubber-coated steel bullets, tear gas grenades, tear gas canisters and 0.22 caliber live ammunition against protesters.

On 17 April 2009, Bassem Abu Rahma was shot with a high-velocity tear gas projectile in the chest by Israeli forces and subsequently died from his wounds at a Ramallah hospital.

Out of the 75 residents who have been arrested in connection to demonstrations against the Wall, 27 were arrested since the beginning of a night raid campaign on 23 June 2009. Israeli armed forces have been regularly invading homes and forcefully searching for demonstration participants, targeting the leaders of the Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements, as well as teenage boys accused of throwing stones at the Wall. Seventeen currently remain in detention, 10 of which are minors.

In addition to its grassroots movement, Bil’in turned to the courts in the fall of 2005. In September 2007, 2 years after they initiated legal proceedings, the Israeli High Court of Justice ruled that due to illegal construction in part of Modi’in Illit, unfinished housing could not be completed and that the route of the Wall be moved several hundred meters west, returning 25% of Bil’in’s lands to the village. To date, the high court ruling has not been implemented and settlement construction continues.

In July 2008, Bil’in commenced legal proceedings before the Superior Court of Quebec against Green Park International Inc and Green Mount International Inc for their involvement in constructing, marketing and selling residential units in the Mattityahu East section of Modi’in Illit.

Bil’in villagers appeal Canadian court

Dan Izenberg | The Jerusalem Post

21 October 2009

Farmers from Bil’in, 12 km. west of Ramallah, are continuing their efforts in Canada to obtain a court order instructing two building companies registered and domiciled in Quebec to stop all apartment construction on land they maintain belongs to them, a Toronto lawyer representing them said on Tuesday by conference call during a press conference in Jerusalem.
Map of the Bil’in area.

The lawyer, Mark Arnold, said that on Monday, he had filed an appeal against the September 18 ruling of Quebec Superior Court Judge Louis-Paul Cullen, dismissing a civil action suit by the plaintiffs on the grounds that the claims should be heard by the High Court of Justice in Jerusalem.

The suit was filed against Green Park International Inc. and Green Mount International Inc., which were originally slated to build 3,000 housing units in East Matityahu, a neighborhood in the Modi’in Illit settlement. As a result of a court decision that shifted the route of the West Bank security barrier in the area, the companies are now set to build a total of 2,000 units, including 500 that are already completed and others currently under construction.

Arnold explained that the legal action is based on the fact that, unlike in Israel, the Geneva Conventions have been incorporated into Canadian Law. According to the Fourth Geneva Convention, it is forbidden for the occupying power to transfer citizens of its own country to the occupied territory. Since the two construction companies are based in Canada and are allegedly violating Canadian law, the case brought by the Bil’in farmers ought to be heard in a Canadian court of law, he said.

The lawsuit against the two construction companies marks the first time that Israeli and Palestinian human rights and social action organizations have fought a legal battle against Israeli settlement building in a foreign country.

In the appeal against Cullen’s decision, Arnold argued that the judge had erred in several ways. First of all, the High Court of Justice only hears petitions aimed against the State of Israel. Second, the High Court has repeatedly refused to rule on questions involving the legality of the settlements, on the grounds that the issue is not justiciable.

He also rejected Cullen’s argument that the connection between the construction companies and Quebec was “merely superficial,” given the fact that the defendants are registered and domiciled in Quebec.

Attorney Michael Sfard, who represents the Bil’in village council here, said it was important to take action against private individuals and companies that help the state in its actions that violate international humanitarian law.

Believing in the nonviolent struggle

Jody McIntyre | Electronic Intifada

20 October 2009

The following is Palestinian nonviolent resistance activist Ahmed A. Khatib’s story as told to The Electronic Intifada contributor Jody McIntyre:

Palestinians take part in one of the nonviolent demonstrations against Israel's wall in Bilin, September 2006. (Oren Ziv/ActiveStills)

My name is Ahmed A. Khatib, I am 32 years old, and married with four children. I live in the village of Bilin, where I work on our family’s farm.

When Israel started building the wall here in 2005, I was working with the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades military, the armed wing of the Fatah party. But at first, the villagers went to our land not to “resist,” but simply to see what the Israeli soldiers were doing. There was no planning, no such things as “demonstrations,” and no organization. We were just curious as to why these strangers were stealing our olive groves. So, in effect, our popular struggle was initiated through ordinary people walking to their land.

However, as the Israelis’ intentions became evident, the people of the village agreed that the formation of a local popular committee would be the best way forward.

After a couple of initial meetings, it was decided that we would embark on a campaign of nonviolent resistance, drawing inspiration from the struggle in Budrus village, where they had actually succeeded in moving the route of the wall. At first, I thought the suggestion was a joke — I had friends who had been killed, friends locked up in prison. I worked with guns to fight against the occupation, so it was difficult for me to believe that we could ever return to our land through nonviolent means.

But we are farmers from a small village, simple people, fighting against the fourth largest military in the world. If you think about it, Bilin is home to around 1,500 inhabitants; half of those are women, plus a few hundred children, and maybe 50 elderly men. You aren’t left with many people to take up an armed struggle against the Israeli army.

At the first demonstration, the army really didn’t have a clue how to deal with us! Because we came to them as unarmed citizens, they were left with no pretext to shoot at us. Instead, they started beating us with their weapons. Before, I didn’t believe that Israeli and international activists would be able to help, but then I saw them becoming human shields, taking the soldiers’ blows for us Palestinians. When we returned to the village, everyone had an injury to show. It was a great feeling to see that kind of solidarity, although I still remained skeptical about the concept of nonviolent resistance.

However, we started to see the name of our village and our photos all over the media, and people from around the world were saying that these simple farmers really could challenge this brutal army.

Demonstration after demonstration, I started to believe in the nonviolent struggle. However, this put a strain on my relationships with my al-Aqsa friends, whom I tried to convince of the benefits of these new methods. Some were willing to listen; this was at a time when Abu Mazen (Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian Authority president) had won the presidential election and made a temporary truce with Israel, so people were looking for a new way forward.

When our struggle first started in Bilin, the al-Aqsa military declared that they would come to the village and kill the army. But I went to them and told them not to interfere — this was our decision, our struggle, and we went to our demonstrations with women and children — and they listened to me.

After a few demonstrations had passed, the Israeli occupation forces arrested someone from the al-Aqsa military, and they told the Shabak (Israel’s internal security service, also known as the Shin Bet) that I had helped with transporting weapons. The army raided the village on 29 October 2006, four days after Hamas had taken an Israeli soldier hostage in Gaza.

That day, an Israeli taxi driver had been kidnapped and gone missing, so when I saw soldiers outside my home, I presumed it was an arbitrary search for him. I didn’t for one second think they had come to arrest me, because I had stopped working with al-Aqsa some time before. Once they were sitting in my front room, I even offered them some tea, but they said they didn’t drink on the job.

They let me smoke a cigarette, and said that they were searching many houses, so I relaxed. But after ten minutes, the soldiers told me to be ready, because the Shabak were coming to arrest me.

I stayed in jail for 13 months, but the experience didn’t change anything in me. I had changed my ideas well before I was arrested.

I spent the first month in Ramle prison, where I was joined by 20 Hamas politicians, whom I later found out had been arrested on the same night as me. So every day, although we stayed in different rooms, I came face-to-face with them. When they heard I was from Bilin, they asked me about our struggle — I knew that Hamas had refused to join our struggle at first, so I started to explain how we practiced nonviolent resistance, and how the Israelis and internationals were helping and could use their experience in Bilin to pressure their own governments into taking action against the occupation. By the time I had finished, they promised that once they were released, they would join us in Bilin.

For me, it was a great personal victory to see that I could convince these important leaders, so I started to talk to all my friends in jail about the nonviolent struggle. Every Saturday they brought the newspapers to the prison, and it was always understood that Ahmed Khatib could read the first copy, so that I could see the report from the Friday demonstration in my village. I also saw Bilin live on Al-Jazeera; I couldn’t believe I was seeing my friends on the prison’s television! All this strengthened my beliefs; sometimes I asked myself, there are 2,000 Palestinian prisoners here — maybe the nonviolent struggle could release us one day?

They had sentenced me to 28 months in prison, but it was my fate to be released after 13, along with 250 other Palestinians, when Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert made their prisoner release deal.

A short time after I was released, the Israeli high court gave an order to change the route of the wall in Bilin. When I heard the news, I was filled with a happiness that I had only felt twice before — when my first child was born, and when I heard my name being read out on the list of those to be released on a secret radio while still in jail. I was so overjoyed that I ran to the local mosque and announced the victory on the loudspeaker! We got music and started dancing on the streets, calling all our friends to let them know what had happened.

Without a moment of planning, we took an impromptu demonstration to the wall, and started throwing sweets at the Israeli army. The soldiers were looking pretty nervous.

I felt like I was on top of the world — we had won, and this was a victory not only for us, but for every person who had visited Bilin. I truly believed that our experience would inspire other villages, and that we would become a symbol — a spark for a world struggle for freedom.

But slowly, I began to wake up from the dream. Two years later, our situation hasn’t changed. For me, I will never return to armed resistance, now that I have a family to look after. But I see the entire village as my family, and I really want to see something good for them — for the wall to be destroyed, and for the people of Bilin to return to our lands. I am still waiting for that moment.

Unfortunately, the tactics of Israel seem to promote armed resistance. They refuse to release just one of the 11,000 Palestinian prisoners currently rotting away in Israeli jails, but when an Israeli soldier is taken hostage, they are willing to negotiate. How can I convince the mothers of those martyred and those imprisoned that nonviolent resistance is the way forward?

But in my heart, I know that nonviolent resistance is the path to freedom for our nation. From my small village of Bilin, I hope our actions can set an example for others to follow.

Filling up Israel’s jails to no avail

Seth Freedman | The Guardian

20 October 2009

The plight of Palestinian activist Mohammad Othman has dominated the agendas of NGOs in the region ever since his detention in late September. However, while his case is at the forefront of their minds, Othman is just one of 11,000 Palestinian prisoners currently held in Israeli jails, 800 of whom are incarcerated under the terms of administrative detention – meaning that they are imprisoned indefinitely without any charges brought against them.

As things stand, Othman appears to be heading for the murky world of administrative detention, given the treatment handed out to him thus far by the military courts. Othman was arrested by soldiers at the Allenby Bridge crossing on 22 September as he tried to return home to the West Bank town of Jayyous following an advocacy trip to Norway. Despite a lack of evidence presented against him in court, judges in subsequent hearings have extended his remand, leading to his having spent almost a month in solitary confinement.

According to Addameer, a local prisoners’ support group, Othman’s captors will soon have to decide whether to issue an administrative detention order against him or release him without charge. However, given that today Othman found his remand extended by 11 days, it appears he’ll be kept in limbo.

Arresting Othman is a coup for the Israeli authorities, sending a strong message to his compatriots that dissent against the occupation will not be taken lightly. For years, Othman has been at the vanguard of the anti-wall campaign, an issue close to his heart given the devastation wreaked on his hometown by the erection of the barrier.

During his visit to Norway, he met the Norwegian finance minister Kristen Halvorsen, and their meeting was seen as pivotal in shaping the decision by Norway’s national pension fund to divest from Israeli electronics firm Elbit, whose products are used in the construction and maintenance of the illegal separation wall.

While Israeli officials claim that Othman is being held for belonging to an unnamed terrorist group, Othman’s supporters point out that it is too much of a coincidence that he was arrested just after his high-profile trip to Scandinavia. Furthermore, they say, he has been interrogated for up to 16 hours a day ever since being detained, and given Shin Bet’s notoriously tough methods of extracting information, if he had anything to hide it would have been long ago discovered by his jailers.

Othman’s nightmare is only the latest in a long line of suspiciously timed arrests by the Israeli authorities. According to Adalah, one of the principal NGOs campaigning for Othman’s release:

The villages of Jayyous and Bil’in have both been targeted with arrests and repression due to their multi-year nonviolent protest campaigns. Twenty-eight Bil’in activists have been arrested by Israel since June when Bil’in’s lawsuit against settlement construction on village land was heard in a Canadian court.
Just weeks after he testified in Canada, Bil’in activist Mohammed Khatib was jailed by Israeli forces for 15 days and then released on bail. Bil’in protester Adeeb Abu Rahme and 17 others are still being held in Israeli jails, and Bil’in protest organiser Abdullah Abu Rahme is ‘wanted’ by the Israeli army for his nonviolent organising.

However, instead of silencing the anti-occupation protests, Israel’s treatment of Othman, Khatib and Abu Rahme appears to be backfiring: demonstrations are taking place around the world on the campaigners’ behalf, along with well-organised publicity campaigns aimed at highlighting the dire situation for those trapped behind the separation wall.

Naomi Klein has taken up the cause as well, noting:

As we see with Mohammad Othman’s arrest, Palestinians are still treated as the enemy, even when they embrace this non-violent tactic. It is clear that for the supposedly democratic Israeli state, no tactic – no matter how peaceful – is an acceptable way for Palestinians to resist an illegal occupation.

Whatever happens in Othman’s case, the signs are clear that the Israeli authorities will continue to stifle legitimate protest at every opportunity, and the omens look bleak for any change to their repressive policies as long as the cabinet remains in place. Led by the hyper-defensive Benjamin Netanyahu and Avigdor Lieberman, Israeli officials give short shrift to anyone calling for boycotts or sanctions against the state, and individuals such as Othman are easy prey for those looking to make an example of anyone deemed an enemy of the state.

Daniel Seaman, director of Israel’s government press office, summed up the prevailing attitude when questioned about Othman’s arrest. Scoffing at the idea that Othman was detained for his pro-boycott activities, he went on to declare:

Boycotts are a joke … [They] are an old weapon used against Jews and the state of Israel for generations, so those invoking the boycott should not act so disingenuous as if they are doing this for some noble reason. It is as old as hatred for the Jews.
Israel has done everything for the peace process and taken risks for peace: relinquishing territory, giving up settlements. Instead of bringing us closer to peace it has resulted in more Israeli deaths. What have the Palestinians done to increase the prospects for peace? Palestinians have contributed nothing to the world except violence and terrorism.

Against such a caustic backdrop, it is clear that even once Othman is finally released, there will be plenty more like him filling up cells in Israeli jails. With senior Israeli spokesmen making such proclamations against the entire Palestinian people, there seems little room for manoeuvre for the activists fighting desperately for their nation’s freedom – and the prospects for peaceful resolution continue to diminish.

Israeli Soldier indicted for beating Palestinian grassroots leader Mohammed Khatib in Bil’in

Yesh Din

19 October 2009

On October 15, an indictment was filed against an Israeli soldier accused of beating up well-known nonviolent protester and secretary of Bil’in’s Regional Council Mohammed Khatib one month ago (September 15) during a night raid on the village. The organization Yesh Din filed a complaint and demanded that an investigation be launched immediately after the incident. The soldier was arrested on October 6th and remains in custody.

The alleged beating took place shortly after 1:30am on September 15th, when the Israeli military raided the Bil’in residence of Abedullah Abu Rahma, Coordinator of the Bil’in Popular Committee Against the Wall, in an attempt to arrest him. However, he was not home at the time. Soldiers sealed off the house while operating inside. When Mohammed Khatib came to the house and attempted to enter to check on Abu Rahme’s family, he was severely beaten. He was taken to a hospital in Ramallah for treatment and returned to the village later.

Attorney Michael Sfard, Yesh Din Legal Council: “The Israeli Military record in its treatment of Palestinina complainsts against soldier violence is unacceptable. While of course we are glad to see the soldier who beat up Mohammed beginning the process of being brought to justice, the indictment filed today is the exception. Yesh Din has filed several complaints regarding severe violence in Bil’in over the past few weeks and in NONE of them were the offenders made accountable for their behavior.”

Mohammed Khatib: “This indictment – against the soldier who beat me – clearly shows how the Israelli Military’s attempt to quash the village’s resistance has gone completely out of control, forcing even the military investigative police and military prosecution to intervene. A simple glance at the statistics of indictments should be enough for anyone to realize how rare such intervention is and how impenetrable impunity is in the Israeli army. The real problem, of course, is not an individual soldier, but rather the fact that the army employs military means to deal with civic, unarmed resistance, as if we were an armed enemy.”

Indictments of Israeli Soldiers:
According to Yesh Din’s report “Exceptions”, of the 1,246 investigation files opened by the MPCID (military police criminal investigations department) from the start of the Second Intifada in 2000 until the end of 2007, only 78 (6%) led to indictments against one or more soldiers. Of the thousands of Palestinian civilians killed, perpetrators were convicted in only 4 cases.

Bil’in arrests and night raids:
On June 23rd of this year, the Israeli Military began conducting regular nighttime incursions into Bil’in, evacuating homes and searching for participants in the Friday demonstrations, particularly the leaders of the Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements, as well as teenage boys accused of throwing stones at the wall. 28 residents of the village have been arrested over the past three months along with two internationals and one Israeli. Of the 28 residents arrested, 12 are minors (under the age of 16). Of the 28 arrested, 10 people have been released on bail, meaning that 18 are still held in custody, among them 10 minors. Of the 28, three members of the leadership have been arrested – Mohammed Khatib, Mohammed Abu Rahme (“Abu Nizar”) and Bassel Mansour. At least one other leader is wanted – Abedallah Abu Rahme – and the military has broken into his house several times over the past weeks in attempts to arrest him. The villagers and many of their Israeli supporters believe that these arrests are part of a targeted Israeli attempt to quash the years-strong non-violent Palestinian resistance movement, beginning with the village that has become its symbol.