Tag: Bil’in

Take action against suppression of Palestinian non-violent resistance in Bil’in

Bil'in demonstrates against ongoing night raids and arrests.
Bil'in demonstrates against ongoing night raids and arrests.

3 August 2009

At around 3am on Monday morning, a large military force wearing combat paint and masks invaded the West Bank village of Bil’in. Israeli soldiers raided several homes, arresting 2 Palestinian children, 5 Palestinian adults including Mohammad Khatib of the Bil’in Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements. The home of another member of the Popular Committee was raided, but soldiers could not arrest him because he was not present at home.

Also arrested were the three brothers Khaled Shawkat Abd-Alrazic al-Khateeb (age 23), Mustafa Shawkat Abd-Alrazic al-Khateeb (age18), and Mohammed Show gut Abd-Alrazic al-Khateeb (age 16); Abdullah Ahmad Yassen (age 18); Abdullah Mohammed Ali Yassen (age 16); Issa Mahmoud Issa Abu Rahma (age 40); This brings to 19 the number of Biliner’s currently in custody.

Monday’s raid is another in a series of many that Israeli forces have carried out in Bil’in since June 29 June 2009, Israeli forces have arrested 25 people (most are under 18). Israeli forces have been using interrogation techniques to pressure the arrested youth to give statements against Bil’in community leaders.

Abdullah Abu Rahme, coordinator of the popular committee stated, “Mohmmad Khatib and Adib Abu Rahme along with other leaders of the Palestinian popular struggle are being targeted because the mobilize Palestinians to resist non- violently. The fact is that the Apartheid Wall and the settlements built on Palestinian land are illegal under international law, in the case of our village even the biased Israeli court declared the route illegal. Yet Israel is prosecuting us as criminals because we struggle nonviolently for our freedom.”

What you can do?

Attempts to criminalize the leadership of non-violent protests where curbed in the past with the help of an outpouring of support from people committed to justice from all over the world.

Mohammad Khatib on a speaking tour in Montreal
Mohammad Khatib on a speaking tour in Montreal

1. Many of you have met Mohammad Khatib and perhaps one of the others mentioned above. We need you now to personally testify about your knowledge of them and their commitment to non-violence. Write a letter to the Israeli military judge and please send to bilinlegal@gmail.com.

2. Please Protest by contacting your political representatives, as well as you consuls and ambassadors to Israel to demand the release of Mohammad Khatib, Adib Abu Rahme and all Bil’in prisoners.

3. The Popular committee of Bil’in is in desperate need for legal funds in order to pay legal fees and Bail. Please donate to the Bil’in legal fund by paypal click http://tinyurl.com/lcr6rg . If you would like to make a tax deductible donation in the US or Canada contact: bilinlegal@gmail.com.

The Bil’in Popular Committee against the Wall and Settlements

Background:

The Palestinian village of Bil’in has become an international symbol of the Palestinian popular struggle. For almost 5 years, its residents have been continuously struggling against the de facto annexation of more then 50% of their farmlands the construction of the apartheid wall on it. In a celebrated decision, the Israeli Supreme court ruled on the 4 September 2007 that the current route of the wall in Bil’in was illegal and needs to be dismantled; the ruling however has not been implemented. The struggle of the village to liberate its lands and stop the illegal settlements has been internationally recognized and has earned the popular committee in Bil’in the Carl von Ossietzky Meda. http://tinyurl.com/nfmsvm

On 21 July 2009, a military judge decided to hold Adeeb Abu Rahma, a leading non-violent activist that was arrested from a demonstration against the barrier that took place in Bil’in village on 10 of July (see video at: https://palsolidarity.org/2009/07/7652), until the end of proceedings against him. This could mean months or a year in military prison for Adeeb, who is being charged with incitement to violence and rioting. He is the sole provider for his family of 9 children, wife and mother.

One demonstrator, Basem Abu Rahma, was killed at a demonstration as he was attempting to speak with the soldiers. (Video can be seen on https://palsolidarity.org/2009/04/6185)

Israeli forces raid West Bank village of Bil’in, arresting 7 Palestinians and 1 American solidarity activist

For Immediate Release

3 August 2009: Israeli forces raid West Bank village of Bil’in, arresting 7 Palestinians and 1 American solidarity activist.

At around 3am on Monday morning, a large military force wearing combat paint and masks invaded Bil’in. Israeli soldiers raided several homes, arresting 2 Palestinian children, 5 Palestinian adults including Mohammad Khatib of the Bil’in Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements and an American national.

The home of another member of the Popular Committee was raided, but soldiers could not arrest him because he was not present at home.

Monday’s raid is another in a series of many that Israeli forces have carried out in Bil’in since June.

Since 29 June 2009, Israeli forces have arrested 25 people (most are under 18), of which 18 are currently being held in detention.
Israeli forces have been using interrogation techniques to pressure the arrested youth to give statements against Bil’in community leaders. Forces then arrest community leaders, several of which are being held without bail for the duration of their trial.

On 21 July 2009, a military judge decided to hold Adeeb Abu Rahma, a leading non-violent activist that was arrested from a demonstration against the barrier that took place in Bil’in village on 10 of July (see video at: https://palsolidarity.org/2009/07/7652), until the end of proceedings against him. This could mean months or a year in military prison for Adeeb, who is being charged with incitement to violence and rioting. He is the sole provider for his family of 9 children, wife and mother.

Abdullah Abu Rahme, coordinator of the popular committee stated,

Mohmmad Khatib and Adib Abu Rahme along with other leaders of the Palestinian popular struggle are being targeted because the mobilize Palestinians to resist non violently. The fact is that the Apartheid Wall and the settlements built on Palestinian land are illegal under international law, in the case of our village even the biased Israeli court declared the route illegal. Yet Israel is prosecuting us as criminals because we struggle nonviolently for our freedom.

The Palestinian village of Bil’in has become an international symbol of the Palestinian popular struggle. For almost 5 years, its residents have been continuously struggling against the de facto annexation of more then 50% of their farmlands the construction of the apartheid wall on it. In a celebrated decision, the Israeli Supreme court ruled on the 4 September 2007 that the current route of the wall in Bil’in was illegal and needs to be dismantled; the ruling however has not been implemented.

One demonstrator, Basem Abu Rahma, was killed at a demonstration as he was attempting to speak with the soldiers. (see video at: https://palsolidarity.org/2009/04/6185)

Israeli forces raid Bil’in, arrest eight

Bil’in Popular Committee

3 August 2009

At 3am, the occupation forces invaded the village of Bil’in. A total of some 200 soldiers with combat paint in their faces and masks entered the village on foot at several points of entry. 5 homes were raided and a total of 8 people were arrested, 7 Palestinians and one international activist from the United States.

The arrested Palestinians are: the three brothers Khaled Show gut Abd-Alrazic al-Khateeb (age 23), Mustafa Show gut Abd-Alrazic al-Khateeb (age18), and Mohammed Show gut Abd-Alrazic al-Khateeb (age 16); Abdullah Ahmad Yassen (age 18); Abdullah Mohammed Ali Yassen (age 16); Issa Mahmoud Issa Abu Rahma (age 40); Mohammed Abdulkarim Mustafa Khatib (age 35). One of the the popular committee leaders .

The occupation forces threw sound bombs to disperse the villagers who were coming into the streets at day-break throwing rocks at the arriving Jeeps and the soldiers that were still partly disguised from the night. The Jeeps then parked at various locations with their engines running until the end of the operation at 6:45am.

The Popular Committee of Bil’in has asked the Human Rights Committee to assist with both the release of the arrested people and the request that the Israeli Army stop the night raids.

Bil’in demonstrates against nightly raids

Bil’in Popular Committee

30 July 2009

On Wednesday night, July 29, one hundred villagers of Bil’in along with their International and Israeli supporters conducted a Protest March against the IDF’s nightly raids and detaining of Palestinian villagers.

The protest march began in the village of Bil’in, but buoyed by peace songs, chants, and flashlight-lit containers with peace messages written on them in over a dozen languages, the enthusiastic marchers walked down to the Separation Fence and where a 15-minute rally was held.

The lights and chanting attracted several Israeli military vehicles who launched several night flares (inducing exuberant cheering and vigorous waving of the Palestinian flags carried by several members) as the landscape brightened. It was reported that one tear gas canister was fired in the vicinity of the demonstrators, but no one was injured, fortunately.

Bil’in has been conducting regular protest marches against the illegal wall’s incursion into its farmland every Friday noon since 2005. Wednesday’s protest was the second weekly nighttime demonstration created by the Bil’in Popular Committee members. Their common purpose is to ‘take the message to the perpetrators’… that the wall’s location is illegal, that Israeli’s occupation of Palestine is wrong and harmful to the Palestinian people, and that the IDF’s night-time incursions into Bil’in’s peaceful village (arresting its youth and leadership) will be resisted with a wide variety of peaceful methods until justice is done.

Bil’in under attack

Alternative Information Center (AIC)

30 July 2009

Five years ago the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued its advisory opinion declaring that the Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory is illegal and should be dismantled. After five years of silence and complicity by the international community in perpetrating this crime, several villages across the Occupied West Bank have formed committees engaged in continuous demonstrations against the Wall and the settlements. Israel is getting worried by this phenomenon of mass popular resistance, especially because of the unity being created amongst Palestinians, Israeli and International activists who have been demonstrating together against the apartheid Wall for more than four years. That’s why the Israeli military is escalating the level of violence and repression against these communities (curfews, sieges, destruction of property, threats, arrests and kidnappings of activists, injuries and killings of protestors), by targeting individuals as well as collectively punishing entire communities. The aim is to break the growing popular resistance movement and to discourage villages’ support for the resistance.

In the past weeks the Israeli Occupying Forces have invaded the village of Bil’in (whose 60 percent of its farmland are confiscated by the Wall) and other villages, raiding homes in the early hours of the morning to seize demonstrators, mainly youth under the age of 18, pressuring them to confess they were throwing stones during demonstrations or in general accusing them of instigating violence. In the last few weeks almost 20 people have been kidnapped in Bil’in. That’s why the Bil’in Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements requested the presence of Israeli and international activists to document and discourage the night raids, spending the night in the village. On Thursday July 16th, I decided, with a couple of friends, to bring the village our solidarity and “sleep” there the night before the Friday’s demonstration. Having witnessed one of these “arrests” that night, I’ll try to write down what I passed though.

As usual we were warmly welcomed by the families of the village and we were introduced to the activists of the International Solidarity Movement, permanent presence in the village (just few days before an US activist of the ISM was arrested while trying to prevent soldiers from kidnapping a Palestinian). We organized in three groups, each standing on its rooftop in a strategic side of the village, in the attempt to catch the soldiers coming and forewarning the others. Our group was made by 5-6 people, staring at the point of the Wall where we were expecting soldiers’ jeeps crossing the Separation Wall towards the village. Hot coffee and narghile helped us with the cold night and the long wait. After a couple of hours, at around 2 am, a mobile rang and we were informed that jeeps full of soldiers had invaded the village and were arresting people. We jumped into a car and rushed to the house where the arrest was taking place. Dozens of soldiers, on a war footing, wearing dark military camouflage uniforms and black masks, already surrounded and entered the house, searching everywhere inside. We got out the car altogether trying to enter the house and we started recording and taking pictures of soldiers. Of course we were immediately stopped and ordered to leave under threat of being arrested. At this point we saw all the family (father, mother, daughters and sons) pulled out from their home in a humiliating way, still wearing pajamas. They were followed by Imad Burnat, member of the Bil’iI n Popular Committee, blindfold and hand-tied, arrested and pushed out by a bunch of soldiers. Imad was brutally dragged for one kilometer across the countryside, in the middle of the night, until when he was pushed him into a military vehicle and left to the nearby military outpost.

Some Palestinians, Amid’s father and a dozen of international activists first tried to block the path of the army unit (about 20 soldiers), then followed them asking for the immediate release of Amid and protesting the systematic policy of kidnappings Palestinians of the village. The Occupying Forces tried to disperse us hitting with their rifles, throwing percussion grenades, sound bombs and spraying chemicals in our faces. We managed to disturb the army’s path until additional units came and began chasing us. While avoiding getting caught and arrested, Haitham Al-Katib, a Palestinian activist, stumbled and got injured in his leg. As the soldiers were coming back towards the village, Amid’s father, in a fit of despair, hugged his little son and stood in front of them saying to his child and pointing to the soldiers, as if to give him a lesson: “Don’t be afraid! Look at them! They are soldiers, Israelis! They took your brother!”.

The soldiers’ unit left followed, some minutes later, by at least four more jeeps coming from inside the village. We estimated that between 50 and 80 soldiers were involved in the arrest of an unarmed civil Palestinian.

Despite the recent wave of arrests and the escalation in the repression of the protests, the popular resistance movement has not been defeated and weekly demonstrations against the Wall and settlements continue in Bil’in, Ni’lin, Jayyus, al-Ma’sara and other villages.

For further info on the popular resistance in Bil’in see www.bilin-village.org. See also “Repression allowed, resistance denied: Israel’s suppression of the popular movement against the Apartheid Wall of Annexation”, Addameer and Stop the Wall Campaign new Joint Report.