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Edited: Elias Farhud
“Just as a simple man named Ghandi led the successful non-violent struggle in India and simple people such as Rosa Parks and Nelson Mandela led the struggle for civil rights in the United States, simple people here in Bil’in are leading a non-violent struggle that will bring them their freedom. The South Africa experience proves that injustice can be dismantled.”
Archbishop Desmond Tutu, during a visit to Bil’in on 27 August 2009
The Palestinian village of Bil’in has become an international symbol of the Palestinian popular non-violent struggle. For almost 5 years, its residents have been continuously struggling against the de facto annexation of more than 50% of their farmlands, confiscated for the construction of the Apartheid Wall.
The Israeli military’s most recent attempt to crush Bil’in village’s ongoing popular non-violent resistance campaign against the Apartheid Wall is a wave of night raids and arrests targeting protesters and the leadership of Bil’in’s Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements.
Once again the night in Bil’in was disrupted by a raid ending with the arrest of one Palestinian man. This occurred in the night after the children’s demonstration Wednesday morning where the children had chanted slogans like “We want to sleep,” “Stop the night raids” and others.
The house of Mohammed Ibrahim Achmed Hassan Abu Rahma (age 50) was invaded shortly before 2am on Thursday morning, 20.08.09, ending with his arrest. His son Nashmi Mohammed Ibrahim Abu Rahma (age 14) had been arrested 5 days ago.
About 25 soldiers had come to the village on foot with their faces disguised. While taking the victim away, the soldiers threw a sound bomb into Palestinian and international activists who tried to interfere and de-arrest the man. A shuffle occurred during which the soldiers hit Palestinians and international activists, knocking one international female activist to the ground and pulling the hair of another.As the cameraman, Haitham al-Katib, was filming the arrest, one soldier hit and broke his camera. The occupation forces succeeded in taking the victim away escaping through the fields, closely followed by Palestinian and international activists. Jeeps were waiting at a fair distance and picked up the soldiers with their victim.
The Head of the Bil’in Popular Committee, Iyad Bornat, says that in spite of the continuing arrests, the resistance and demonstrations against the military occupation and the Apartheid Wall will continue. “This is our right and we want our lands back now, not tomorrow.”
Two houses were raided simultaneously by at least 40 soldiers. In the first house, Ashraf Mohammad Jamal Tofik Al-Khatib (age 29) was arrested. In the second house, they arrested Hamru Hisham Bornat (age 33).
The cameraman, Haitham Al-Khatib, who was filming in his own house, one victim being his brother, was repeatedly forcibly moved and hit, and threatened with arrest unless he stopped filming. They declared his house a “closed military zone” but did not produce any military order. 3 Jeeps and 2 Humvee jeeps were used for the operation. The Israeli Army invaded Bil’in from three directions, the neighbor villages Kofr Ni’ma and Saffa, and through the gate from the Apartheid Wall. They parked their vehicles, engines running, opposite the mosque. With the victims inside the Jeeps, the vehicles exited the village toward the Wall.
The international activists present were challenging the soldiers regarding their operation, but they were unable to de-arrest the victims. Upon repeated requests for information, activists were ignored, pushed, and had rifles pointed at their faces. They were told on more than one occasion that the village had been declared as a “closed military zone,” but soldiers refused to show proof.
The recent raids began concurrently with the opening of a legal trial in Montreal. The village of Bil’in has taken two companies registered in Canada (Green Park International & Green Mount International) to court for participating in war crimes by building settlements on Bil’in’s land under the 2000 Canadian Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Statute (which incorporates both the articles of the Fourth Geneva Convention and the Rome Statute into Canadian federal law).
According to one of Bil’in’s attorney Emily Schaeffer, the judge Justice Louis-Paul Cullen is meant to give a decision very soon about whether the Canadian court has jurisdiction to hear Bil’in’s claims.
Since the trail began Israeli forces have arrested 30 people (most of which are under 18). Twenty-one residents of Bil’in remain in Israeli detention.
Through Israel’s interrogation and intimidation tactics, some of arrested youth have falsely ‘confessed’ that the Bil’in Popular Committee urges the demonstrators to throw stones. With such ‘confessions’, Israeli forces then proceed to raid the village at night , invade homes and arrest leaders of the non-violent struggle in the community.
Two of the three popular committee members who traveled to Montreal to represent the villages case, Mohammad Khatib and Mohammad Abu Rahme were arrested and have since been released on bail. (see B’Tselem report).
Another leading Bil’in non-violent activist, Adeeb Abu Rahme, remains in detention since his arrest during a non-violent demonstration on 10 July 2009 (see report & video). Adeeb has been charged with “incitement to damage the security of the area.”
People arrested in Bil’in since the beginning of this intimidation campaign
- 24/06/2009 : Mohammed Khalil Abu Rahma (age 23)
- 24/06/2009 : Moatassem Faisal Al-Khatib (age 17)
- 26/06/2009 : Khaleel Ibraheem (age 15)
- 26/06/2009 : Kamel Alkhateeb (age 15)
- 29/06/2009 : Emad Mahmoud Yassin (age 16)
- 29/06/2009 : Hosni Rasim al-Khatib (age 16)
- 29/06/2009 : Mohsen Kateb (age 16)
- 29/06/2009 : Hamoda Yaseen (age 16)
- 30/06/2009 : Suleiman Seif (age 17)
- 5/07/2009 : Oda Rebhe Abu Rahma (age 20)
- 5/07/2009 : Mahmoud Issa Yassein (age 17)
- 7/07/2009 : Majdi Abdel Muamer Abu Rahma
- 10/07/2009 : Adeeb Abu Rahme
- 17/07/2009 : Muhammed abde al fatah Burnat (age 21)
- 19/07/2009 : Imad Burnat (age 37)
- 1/10/2009 : Basel Mansour (age 32)
- 3/08/2009 : Khaled Show gut Abd-Alrazic al-Khateeb (age 23)
- 3/08/2009 : Mustafa Show gut Abd-Alrazic al-Khateeb (age 18)
- 3/08/2009 : Mohammed Show gut Abd-Alrazic al-Khateeb (age 16)
- 3/08/2009 : Abdullah Ahmad Yassen (age 18)
- 3/08/2009 : Abdullah Mohammed Ali Yassen (age 16)
- 3/08/2009 : Issa Mahmoud Issa Abu Rahma (age 40)
- 3/08/2009 : Mohammed Khatib (age 35), released on 18/08/2009 on the condition that he report to a police station with a monitor every Friday until 5pm for the duration of his trial
- 15/08/2009 : Nashmi Mohammed Ibrahim Abu Rahma (age 14)
- 20/08/2009 : Mohammad Abu Rahma aka Abu Nizar (age 50), released on 23/08/2009 on a 5.000 NIS bail
- 29/08/2009 : Ashraf Mohammad Jamal Tofik Al-Khatib (age 29)
- 29/08/2009 : Hamru Hisham Bornat (age 24)
- 1/09/2009 : Abed Baset Mohammed Abu Rahme (age 19)
- 25/09/2009 : Haetham Al Khateeb (age 33), released on 25/09/2009, forced to sign an undertaking to stay away from the fence in his own home, Bil’in, and ordered to show up to a court hearing in six months
- 1/10/2009 : Basel Mansour (age 32), released on 8/10/2009 after paying a penalty fine of 1000 shekels
What you can do?
CALL FOR RELEASE OF ALL BIL’IN’S POLITICAL PRISONERS.
Attempts to criminalize the leadership of non-violent protests were curbed in the past with the help of an outpouring of support from people committed to justice from all over the world.
- Please protest by contacting your political representatives, as well as your consuls and ambassadors to Israel to demand that Israel stops targeting non-violent popular resistance and release Adib Abu Rahme and all Bil’in prisoners.
- The Popular Committee of Bil’in is in desperate need for funds in order to pay legal fees both for the trial in Montreal and for representing the arrested protesters in the military courts and bail.
Please donate to the Bil’in legal fund through paypal. If you would like to make a tax deductible donation in the US or Canada contact: bilinlegal@gmail.com.
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Note : Tax deductible donations in Canada can also be made online or by check through Medical Aid for Palestine in order to pay legal fees for the trial in Canada, see here for more information.
— 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 than 50% of their farmlands, confiscated for the construction of the Apartheid Wall.
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 4,085 dunams (988 acres) in size, and populated by approximately 1,780 residents.
Approximately 55% of Bil’in’s agricultural land has been declared ‘State Land’ by Israel and confiscated 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.
Prior to 1948, Bil’in spanned 4,085 dunams. Starting in 1982 and again in 1991, around 1,980 dunams were taken. Another 260 dunams were taken for construction of the Wall in 2005.
In 2004, the International Court of Justice ruled that the Wall was contrary to international law, particularly 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 12% 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.
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 Medal award.
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 were arrested in connection to demonstrations against the Wall, 27 have been were arrested after the beginning of a night raid campaign on 23 June 2009.
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.
Source:
Iyad Burnat- Head of Popular Commitee in Bilin
co-founder of Friends of Freedom and Justice - Bilin
Email- bel3in@yahoo.com
Mobile- (00972) (0) 547847942
Office- (00972) (2) 2489129
Mobile- (00972) (0) 598403676
www.bilin-ffj.org
November 8, 2009 - Posted by Elias
1 comment:
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