On Sunday 3rd August Israel’s Supreme Court will decide if the State of Israel is in contempt of court regarding the withdrawal of the Apartheid Wall from the village of Bil’in.
Bil’in is a small village close to Jerusalem near the illegal Israeli settlement of Mod’in Illit. The Apartheid Wall skirts around this
illegal settlement and cuts off much of Bil’in’s agricultural land. The wall, which is a quadruple fence and military road in this area, left plenty of space for the settlement to expand; the planned “Mod’in Illit B” building project.
On September 4, 2007, the Supreme Court ordered the Israeli authorities to redraw the path of the wall because the current route was deemed “highly prejudicial” to the villagers of Bil’in. The judgement set out four conditions for a new route for the wall, which must:
– Leave the land for the planned expansion of the settlement on the Palestinian side of the wall.
– Take a minimum of Bil’in’s cultivated land.
– Be built as much as possible on illegal settlement land, rather than Bil’in’s land.
– Leave 5 areas of Palestinian land currently within the settlement ‘outside’ and back on the Bil’in side of the wall.
After months of inaction, and facing a legal challenge for not enforcing the court’s judgment, the authorities finally submitted a
new plan for the wall at Bil’in in July this year.
The proposed new route returns a mere 26 hectares to the village out of approximately 200 hectares taken by the exiting route. Of these 26 hectares, about 14 hectares were devastated by the old route, and the remaining 12 hectares are planted with olive trees. The new route will take almost 15 hectares densely planted with olive trees and destroy them completely. In other words, the village will lose even more land if the revised plan is accepted.
Michael Sfard, the atterney who acts on behalf of Bil’in, will argue that this new proposal for the route of the wall meets none of the criteria and that the proposal constitutes contempt of court.
Bil’in has become famous for holding a protest march against the apartheid wall every Friday afternoon for past three and a half years. In that time the Friday march has attracted world famous artists, celebrities and politicians. They have been joined by a wide variety of international and Israeli pressure groups.
For further information contact:
Bil’in’s Popular Committee:
Abdullah Abu Rahme : 054-725-8210
Mohammed Khatib : 054-557-3285
commit…@bilin-village.org
To view original report, published by Palestine Monitor, click here
Picture from Palestine Monitor
Bil’in village has been struggling for its land, resources and liberty, and against the apartheid Wall for 4 years. When the struggle is that long, almost every resident of the village is involved in non-violent resistance. And amongst those, there is Ashraf, “Bil’in’s Che Guevara”, who has dedicated his life to the village’s resistance. Since Sunday, when Bt’selem, the Israeli human rights group, released a video showing him being shot at close range by an Israeli soldier, the young man is no longer anonymous.
Earlier this week, the Palestinian and Israeli press, as well as international newspapers, released the story of Ashraf, a young Palestinian man from Bil’in who appeared in a video shot by a young girl from Ni’lin village. On the screen, he was blindfolded and handcuffed, with a soldier aiming his weapon at Ashraf’s leg, from less than 2 meters away. The soldier targeted, and fired, a rubber coated steel bullet at his toes.
We met Ashraf in his friend’s house in Bil’in, the town where he was born and raised, and to which he has dedicated his life. The huge house overlooks the hills and would offer a great view over a beautiful land planted with olives trees… if there was not an Israeli settlement in the middle.
Ashraf Abu Rahma is a 27-years old man from Bil’in, whose life has turned busy since the release of the video, as journalists are queuing to hear him tell his story. But Ashraf is not the one who will speak, his friend Abdullah is there to help him translate. Together, they are meeting the press and organizing the interviews, with Abdullah speaking and translating on his behalf.
Since the beginning the town’s resistance in February 2005, Ashraf has been one of the main activists, sharing every action with the community, carrying on the non-violent struggle to reverse Bil’in fate. By annexing close to 60% of Bil’in land for Israeli settlements and the construction of the apartheid wall, the state of Israel has been strangling the village for four years.
Behind the Wall, on the Israeli side, the Bil’in popular committee has built an outpost, that is located right between the gates of the Wall and the closest settlement, about 100 meters away from the illegal construction. This Palestinian outpost – copied on the Israeli outposts which were built prior to the definitive establishment of the settlement- is used by the Palestinian villagers to monitor the activities of the neighboring settlement. By establishing this room, they are preventing the building of new houses in the settlement as well as settlers’ attacks on the village.
Living in an outpost
This outpost is Ashraf’s main residence, the place where he sleeps every night, taking care of the village. “But sleeping in the outpost is really dangerous. I tried it myself”, said Abdullah. “Once, 20 settlers came together and started throwing stones at me”. Although it is dangerous, the outpost has its use and brought a great victory to Ashraf and the villagers when they prevented, earlier this year, the establishment of a new settlers’ outpost by having monitored their arrival on time.
As a committed communist, blessing Che Guevara as a mentor, Ashraf has been carrying diverse actions to keep the Bil’in struggle alive. Two months ago, he climbed the electric pylon that overlooks every settlement, and stayed 20 meters high for 5 hours. “By attracting attention on Bil’in and monitoring the dangers that might come, Ashraf is a key member of our struggle.” But for this, he was sent to jail for 2 weeks and had to pay 10.000 to be released on bail. “Once, the settlers from the surrounding area released aggressive pigs to attack us”, said Abdullah. “He was not even afraid of them. He’s neither scared by the soldiers, the settlers, nor the animals”. That gave him another nickname: The hyena.
The Bt’selem video released on Sunday put once again the spotlight on Ashraf. The footage was shot in Ni’lin, a village close to Bil’in that has, for the last two months, shared the same fate: carrying ongoing non-violent protest in order to stop the building of a new section of the apartheid Wall. The videotape was shot by a 17-year old girl called Salaam Kanaan and shows Ashraf Abu Rahma being shot from a two-meter distance by an Israeli soldier while blindfolded and controlled by another soldier. The incident occurred on Monday the 7th of July, while the entire village was held under curfew.
As a sign of solidarity, many residents from the surrounding villages took part in the peaceful demonstrations in Ni’lin that day, along with Israeli activists and internationals. Ashraf was one of them. “He always wanted to come with me to Ni’lin, to show his support to the villagers” told Abdullah. That Monday, it was the first time that Ashraf went and demonstrated outside his own town.
They arrived in Ni’lin around 11 A.M that day and were trying to reach the crowd when 4 Israeli jeeps stopped them and started launching sound bombs and tear gas on the group. In order to avoid inhaling teargas, they ran into olive tree fields and found themselves, along with ten internationals, trapped and surrounded by the occupation forces.
Ashraf was taken to an Israeli jeep where he was beaten, his head on the ground, the soldiers cursing at him in Hebrew. When they reached the entrance of Ni’lin town, they started blindfolding him and attaching his hands behind his back. When out of the car, he was left under the sun for three hours, blindfolded and without water.
“They started speaking in Hebrew, which I do not understand” said Ashraf, “the only word that sounded familiar was ‘gummi’ – meaning rubber. I did not think they intended to shoot me because they were too close, about 1 meter and a half away from me. Way too close.” But they did. The commander gave the order and the soldier shot. The bullet targeted his feet and Ashraf fell down on the ground, without remembering anything from the previous scene. To Ashraf, what happened will never stop him from to continuing his fight for their land. It made him perhaps even more determined. “Many times they have tried to stop me, but each time, it makes me stronger”.
Recording the daily Israeli violence
As Ashraf can not remember what happened that day, the story could have ended there. With no international media coverage, there is a lack of attention from the international community on the daily Israeli crimes.
And this would have been the case had it not been for Salaam Kanaan, the 17-year old beautiful and quiet girl, who was recording the event that day. She is still in High school, in the 11th grade and taking pictures and shooting videos is her passion. A productive and useful passion as her footage was broadcasted throughout the world. She wants to study communication technology, but since the video was released and shown on every channel, she is considering becoming a journalist, as everyone has told her she might have a great career as a reporter. And nothing could be more true.
Salaam was in Ni’lin -where she lives with her family- filming images from the demonstration from her house when the event happened. She has been doing this for a while, recording family events and school friends during her free time. But this is her first ultimate scoop.
We asked her if she was scared of Israeli retaliation while recording the incident. “No”, she answered straightforwardly. “I felt I had to do it.” But this morning, the Israeli occupation forces have arrested her father while he was watching –again- the peaceful protest against the Wall.
Since Sunday, both Ashraf and Salaam have become heroes for a while. But they have been fighting for much longer than what was recorded that day and this is the least that they deserve. For them, as well as for all the Palestinians who are daily peacefully fighting against the confiscation of their land and their freedom, and facing the Israeli unreported violence. For four years, entire Bil’in has been fighting. And two months ago, the town of Nil’in started too.
But again, the impunity of the Israeli crimes seems to be taking over. A short investigation was opened and the soldier who was seen firing the gun on the video was questioned. As he claimed he received a directive to shoot from his commander –who is still currently denying the facts- he was released on active duty on Tuesday, and residents of Ni’lin told B’Tselem that they saw the soldier the following day, still serving in his unit. Bt’selem as well as the Bil’in popular committee are still following the case, and asking for an immediate investigation.
Every Friday for well over 150 weeks, the people of Bil’in have been holding a demonstration against the theft of their land – caused by the Apartheid Wall.
Each demonstration has a different theme and it’s quite a challenge to think up a new one every week. ‘Fortunately’ the Israeli Army provided this week’s theme – the shooting at Nil’in of the bound and blindfolded Ashraf Abu Rahman, aged 27, while he was being detained after a demonstration there on the 7th of July.
Ashraf lives in Bil’in and is a brave man, as he agreed to march at the front of today’s column, wearing the same clothes he was shot in, and similarly bound and blindfolded.
An estimated 100+ Palestinians, International human rights workers and Israelis, including the Israeli Anarchists Against the Wall group marched out to the wall, opened an outer gate, and marched along parallel to the fence until stopped by an inner gate.
Israeli troops shadowed the march along the fence, and opened fire with volleys of tear gas whentowards the end of the protest one or two Palestinian boys threw stones at the soldiers. The tear gas, spread by the wind which was blowing directly in marcher’s faces, caused everyone to retreat back to the village.
One Palestinian man suffered a sprained wrist as he fell while trying to evade the teargas. Virtually every marcher suffered the effects of tear gas, some people had to helped along by those less affected.
Next week’s protest will take place on Friday at 1pm, as it has on every Friday for the past 3 ½ years.
In video footage released on the 20th July by B’Tselem, Ashraf Abu Rahme of Bil’in village, can be seen being handcuffed, blindfolded and then shot at close range by the Israeli army.
Ashraf was taking part in a solidarity demonstration attempting to break the siege of Ni’lin when he was detained by the army. While clearly handcuffed and unable to see, an Israeli soldier can be seen shooting Ashraf in the foot with a rubber-coated steel bullet from extremely close range, while another soldier holds him by the arm.
The footage was filmed by a resident of Ni’lin who showed it to international solidarity activists living in Ni’lin on the 19th July. The ISM activists were shocked by the footage and quickly passed it on to B’Tselem who have released it to the local, Israeli and international media. They came upon the video by chance, after paying a social visit to the home of the resident who shot the footage.
Palestinians take Israeli settlements to Quebec court
By Stefan Christoff
To view original article, published by Hour on 17th July, click here
Palestinians in Bil’in hold their ground
Bil’in, a small Palestinian town in the West Bank, stands to make legal history in Canada. Palestinians from Bil’in have filed a lawsuit in Quebec Superior Court against two sister companies registered in Quebec, Green Park International and Green Mount International, currently constructing in Modi’in Illit, an exclusive Israeli settlement on lands within Bil’in’s municipal jurisdiction.
“Bil’in village and human rights attorneys both share the same goal in this legal battle – to put pressure on companies or even investors internationally to halt their involvement in illegal Israeli settlement construction,” explains Michael Sfard, an Israeli lawyer representing Bil’in. “Israeli settlement construction is the number one obstacle to lasting peace, as settlements are forcing Palestinian people from their lands, from their homes, from their towns.”
According to Michael Sfard, this lawsuit is the first time a private company is being sued for involvement in constructing Israeli settlements on Palestinian lands.
The Bil’in lawsuit asks the Quebec Superior Court to rule on whether the settlement construction violates the Fourth Geneva Convention, signed after WWII, which outlines international legalities for civilians and lands under foreign occupation. The legal submission will also ask the court to decide if the settlement construction contravenes Canada’s Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act, the Quebec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms, and the Civil Code of Quebec.
UN Security
Council resolutions have described Israeli settlements as having “no legal validity.” According to the International Court of Justice, Israeli settlement construction within Palestinian lands (occupied by Israel after the 1967 Arab-Israeli war) violates international law. Despite legal rebukes at the highest international level, the government of Israel continues to back new settlement construction in the Palestinian West Bank.
“This case is part of the globalization process that the entire world is experiencing,” continues Sfard. “[The] Bil’in case illustrates that a domestic court in Quebec can have jurisdiction over an international war crime, in the case of illegal Israeli settlement construction on Bil’in’s lands.”
