The village of al-Walaja sits between Beit Jala and Jerusalem next to the settlements of Gilo and Har Gilo, both of which have been built on historic al-Walaja land. Since 1967, the village’s boundaries have been shrinking as subsequent Israeli governments have expanded the municipal boundaries of Jerusalem while trying to keep al-Walaja in Palestinian controlled territory.  Recently, Israel has started to construct a portion of its separation wall on al-Walaja’s land. The wall will completely surround the village leaving only one entrance to be controlled by an Israeli military checkpoint which will isolate the village from Jerusalem, a main area of employment for many villagers.  In some portions, the wall will be as close as five meters from houses of al-Walaja residents. Last Sunday, the Israeli High Court, on appeal from the residents of al-Walaja, decided to request a ‘full explanation’ from the state about the route of the wall. The state has forty five days to explain itself to the courtalthough work is allowed to continue during this time.

"Budrus" Screening in al-Walaja

On the heels of this important decision, the resemblance between the situation the people of Budrus faced during the time of the film and the threat al-Walaje is facing now made for an emotional screening. Budrus was one of first Palestinian villages to embrace a model of unarmed resistance to the creation of Israel’s separation barrier on its land. Due to the success of this model of resistance other villages such as Bi’linand Ni’lin have adapted similar tactics in confronting the theft of their valuable land.

During the screening, many in the audience were emotional as images of demonstrations in Budrus flashed before their eyes. Packed in a room of Israelis and Palestinians working together to protect a small village’s land from confiscation by Israel’s separation wall while watching the uplifting story of Budrus, it was hard not to be emotional.  A key plot line of the film is the cooperation between Palestinian, Israeli and international in organizing and demonstrating against the wall. These demonstrations, which are documented in the film, often involved harsh Israeli repression in the form tear gas, sound bombs and the use of live fire against unarmed demonstrators.The residents of al-Walaja are accustomed to seeing the same type of violence from the Israeli army during their non-violent demonstrations.

Ayed Morrar, the Palestinian community organizer of Budrus and one of the film’s protagonists, was on hand in al-Walaja for questions after the screening. He appealed to  Palestinians to ‘free themselves of traditional thinking’ in adopting new models of non-violent resistance to Israel’s occupation of the West Bank. He argued that Palestinian woman, who make up half of Palestinian society, should play a greater role in organizing and demonstrating in non-violent demonstrations. He noted the similarities between Budrus and al-Walaja in their struggle against the wall and occupation.

Israeli activist, Yotam Wolfe, appealed to the Israeli members of the audience to keep attending the demonstrations in al-Walaja just as Israelis had done in Budrus. He reminded everyone that as Israelis with extreme privilege in society, it is a moral responsibility to help the people of al-Walaja in their struggle. One Israeli, writing on his blog in Hebrew, wrote about returning to Jerusalem after the screening; ‘I returned full of hope and anger, full of anger and pain, full of love…” I believe his statement captures the feeling that all of us had after viewing this incredible film in al-Walaja.

Bil’in was subjected to yet another Israeli Occupation Forces night raid when an unusually heavy number of Israeli soldiers entered the outskirts of the village to arrest a local youth; 17 year old Ahmad Abed Al-Fatah Burnat – who unfortunately was arrested.

Ahmad was taken by jeep to Ofer military prison located outside Ramallah, where arrestees from Bil’in are normally taken. His family witnessed their son and brother being taken away without knowing why. There is still uncertainty why the Israeli army came in 12 jeeps and stormed the family’s house kidnapping the 17 year old that night.

Ahmad has now been held for seven days in Ofer. What we know from experience is that the prisoners in Ofer, especially young boys are put under harsh conditions, with the intention of pressuring them to give information about other villagers. We know that many are denied food and water for extended periods of time and exposed to extreme cold or heat. This coupled with the uncertainty of when he is to be released makes the situation unbearable for his family. All this is done to make the prisoners confess false charges, or to falsely confess that they have witnessed other people i.e. throwing stones.

Today Ahmad was brought in front of a judge. The court’s decision is that the military has to bring evidence of any crime committed by Ahmad, which they haven’t been able to do so far. If none is presented within 37 hours from today’s court, Ahmad is to be released. The condition is that there must be paid a bail of 10,000 shekel. If this isn’t paid, Ahmad will remain in Ofer military prison indefinitely, while waiting for the next court decision.

The popular committee has seen hundreds of Bil’in residents being arrested over the years, and have been forced to pay a total of more than 300,000 NIS for bail. In addition, the costs for the trials are estimated to lie at around 2,800 NIS per person, per court appearance.

David Reeb has uploaded a video of the demo in Nabi Salih this Friday in which one can clearly see IDF soldiers using tear gas projectiles as bullets. Towards the end of the video pay close attention to the angle of the tear gas as the soldiers discharge the projectile. Instead of firing at an arch in order to spread out the tear gas, which is IDF protocol in these demos, the soldiers fire them directly at Palestinian youth in the village. This has resulted in countless injuries and in some cases, deaths of Palestinian protesters.

The Freedom Flotilla Camp in Beit Umar

The event took place after the weekly demo in Beit Umar against the occupation. I attended the increasing violent demo this morning with fellow activist Kobi Snitz. After the army violently injured one Palestinian photojournalist and rained sound grenades/tear gas on the non violent demonstrators, Kobi and I were invited to attend the children’s festival to address them about Israeli activists supporting of the popular struggle. Below video provided by Fil Kaler.

As soon as we arrived to the camp complex, a customary mob of kids surrounded us asking “what is your name?” and “where are you from?” in broken English. When I explained that I was Israeli from Jerusalem, most took a puzzled looked which only lasted for a couple of seconds and quickly dissolved as they would grab me by the hand and introduce me to all their friends.

Israeli Activist Addressing Palestinian Children in Beit Umar

During the festival, one by one a kid or groups of kids would get on stage to perform a poem or song about Palestine or the occupation. Most of the poems were about the unity of Palestine and expressed solidarity with the people of Gaza. After a slew of performances, it was Kobi’s turn to address the crowd. As he explained that we come from Israel and support the popular struggle movements in the West Bank in his Hebrew accented Arabic, I wondered what it would take for an Israeli summer camp to invite a Palestinian to address their participants. I tried to picture a Palestinian from Beit Umar addressing rowdy youngsters in Herzilya. To be honest, the picture was hard to convince.

Israeli forces arrested Lusia Morgantini, the former Vice President of the European Parliament, and three others during the weekly anti-wall demonstration in the West Bank village of Bil’in earlier today. All were released once the soldiers realized who was in their hands.About 200 demonstrators, fifty of them from of an Italian delegation headed by Morgantini, were attacked with tear-gas as soon as the procession reached the path of the wall and with out any provocation. Some youth responded with stones, but the majority of demonstration remained peaceful despite the provocation.

The soldiers than continued to cross the gate in the wall and into the village. Morganitini and three others who refused to escape were detained by the soldiers and taken away through the wall. Less than an hour after her arrest, once the commanders had realized who they have arrested, Morgnatini was released. The soldiers also released those who were arrested together with, except for one Israeli activist who was taken to the police station. After her release Morgantini said that “I saw Palestinian protesting nonviolently attacked by the army for trying to defend their lands. I strongly encourage the EU to take strong action for the protection of Palestinians and the implementation of their rights.”

In Ni’ilin, I often think about the fencing and duels of early Zionist leaders as I watch the young Palestinian boys throw stones across the wall at Israeli soldiers. In a way, stone throwing carries the same weight of pride, honor and dignity for Palestinians as dueling in the streets carried for early Zionist leaders. It is a symbolic form of resistance treated with much respect in Palestinian society. However, Palestinian stone throwing is portrayed as a violent act which endangers the lives of Israeli soldiers. A Palestinian child who throws a stone is a target for arrest in the middle of the night, harsh interrogation, and ultimately jail time. Leaders of the popular struggle movements in the West Bank are routinely thrown in jail for long periods of time for encouraging youth stone throwing. Usually, these leaders are found guilty by Israeli military courts with coerced testimony gleaned from arrested children without lawyers or parents present.

A Palestinian Throws a Stone Over the Wall in Ni'ilin

Why is the IDF afraid of stone throwing in the first place? I believe that part of the answer lies with the logic of Zionist duals in Europe; one must always defend honor. The IDF, according to its own rules of conduct, will not allow acts of resistance such as stone throwing to go unanswered. If a stone is thrown at a military Jeep, the soldiers must respond in some way whether it be firing tear gas, chasing the stone thrower or firing a rubber bullet. The logic is clear, Palestinians must always be reminded who is boss in the West Bank. Any attempt to dishonor the IDF must never go unanswered.

As good Zionists, settlers never let acts of stone throwing go unanswered as well. Just as in the case of dueling on the streets of Prague or Budapest, settlers often throw stones at Palestinians. It is as a new form of dueling has taken shape in the West Bank. Below is a video that I shot last year in the West Bank village of Safa. Settlers from the extremist settlement of Bat Ayin, rained stones on Palestinian farmers and their Israeli supporters as a unit of the army watched on, sometimes standing right next to the Jewish stone throwers.

In the contemporary world of Zionist honor, the IDF has become the enabler of dangerous settler behavior. The duels of early Zionist leaders in Europe continue on in the stone throwing of Palestinians and settlers in the West Bank. It is a battle of honor.

The below segment chronicles the early years of actions by Ta’ayush and Ezra Nawi in the South Hebron Hills. One can see that the more things change, the more they stay the same. The beginning of the clip shows life in the contested city of Hebron in 2004-2005.

Two Years of Resistance in Ni’ilin

A demonstrator pointing at soldiers beyond the Wall. Picture credit: Oren Ziv/ActiveStills

Two years have passed since the village of Ni’lin began a campaign. Hundreds of demonstrations have been held on the lands of a small agricultural village, located north of Ramallah in the West Bank. The demonstrations began when112 bulldozers arrived. We tried to block their paths with our bodies, stop their motors from uprooting our trees, destroying our livelihoods.

The residents of Ni’lin began organizing when construction of the Wall first began in 2004. While a court injunction temporarily delayed the theft of village lands, the Army came back in May 2008. In response to just efforts, the Army put the village under a 4 day curfew, hoping to break the spirit of our resistance.

The millitary intended to scare us into silently handing over our fields. In the first months of protests, Ahmed Mousa, aged 10 and Youself Amira, aged 17 were killed by Israeli armed forces. The demonstrations strengthened and the army turned to night raids to weaken our movement. Soldiers came regularly in the night, harassing family members of suspected protesters, trying to turn us against each other.

The violence on protesters intensified during the Gaza assault in December 2009. During an unarmed solidarity with Gaza demonstration, Mohammed al-Khawaja and Arafat Ratib al-Khawaja were shot with live ammunition by Israeli soldiers. The army began using a new high-velocity tear gas projectile and re-introduced a 0.22 caliber live ammunition as a means of crowd control. Tristan Anderson, an American solidarity activist was critically injured by a gas projectile and Aqel Srour was killed with a 0.22 bullet to his chest. But we continued, every Friday, to march from the center to the place where an electric fence replaced our olive trees.

The settlement of Hashmonaim and the Wall, ruled illegal by the International Court of Justice in 2004 stole around 7000 dunums of the village, leaving us with 56% of our land. We began to cut the electrical fence, and implement international law ourselves. Israel hid the fence behind a high concrete wall.

Yet we persist. Five deaths, hundreds of arrests, countless injuries from the weapons regularly intended to scare us, to stop us. Two years. A new wave of repression has been unleashed on all the villages who organize against the illegal theft of their livelihood. East Jerusalem, Bil’in, al-Ma’asara, al-Walaja, Beit Jala, and Nabi Saleh continue to fight for justice. We cannot be silent. Can you?

A soldier is seen firing at a blindfolded and handcuffed Palestinian from very close range. The Palestinian is then seen on the ground in obvious pain. This type of humiliation and punishment is routine in the West Bank however the clear video footage in this case has been difficult for the Israeli court system to ignore.

Just off of the 443 highway connecting Jerusalem and Tel Aviv sits the Ofer military prison. Israelis commuting between the two major cities or living in the bedroom community of Modiin take little notice of the prison. Whether they take note of it or not, within the concrete walls of Ofer the mechanisms of Israeli occupation grind everyday. In another crushing decision by the Israeli military court system, three members of the Nil’in popular struggle committee have been sentenced to 11 months and 15 days in jail, a 9,000 NIS fine with probation from joining protests. Today’s court sentence is the latest in a wave of Israeli repression of the popular unarmed resistance in the West Bank. The village of Nil’in has conducted a popular struggle over the past two years which has resulted in five killed protesters, hundreds injured, hundreds arrested and a giant concrete wall erected in the middle of their farmland. The most prominent defendant sentenced today was Ibrahim Amira, the coordinator of nilin popular committee who was arrested in a night raid on his home in January 2010. Amira is the sole provider of Eight children, the youngest of which is 5 years old. One of his sons, Saaed Amira, was arrested in December of 2008 on the charge of stone throwing during a protest in the village. Saaed believes that he was arrested to punish his father for his leadership position in the popular struggle committee. His arrest came just before his final exam period in high school. Unable to finish his exams, Saaed’s life has taken a dramatic shift. He was unable to realize his dream of engineering school and is now unemployed. Saaed was released from prison on 2 April 2009. In addition to Saaed’s ordeal in the military prison system, two of his brothers have been arrested by Israeli security forces under similar charges of stone throwing. His sister was also shot by live ammunition by Israeli forces during one of the many night raids in the village.

Video from a protest in Nilin in which a Palestinian Protester was killed by Israeli soldiers

Amira and the other two popular struggle committee members on trial today were accused of participation in an illegal demonstration, presence in a closed Israeli military zone, incitement of violence, harming the public good, and paying teenagers to throw stones at Israeli soldiers during demonstrations. Amira and the other defendants maintained their innocence, arguing that the occupation, annexation of their land, and the creation of a ten meter high concrete wall is the actual crime. Most of the testimony used to find Amira guilty was taken in coerced testimonies of minors including Saaed Amira. Due to the bureaucratic nature of occupation law, pleading not guilty would result in longer jail time as the trial process is designed to be slow, in some cases taking years to complete trials relating to unarmed protests in the West Bank. Thus, the defendants plead guilty.

Ibrahim Amira with one of his sons

The sentences were read haphazardly and aloud to a small room of family, military lawyers, civilian defense lawyers and a handful of Israeli supporters. Wives and children, who had been waiting at the military court since the early hours of the morning, listened tearfully, watched as their loved ones were shackled and gave a final salam before disappearing to the “tents” which compose the Ofer military prison. Amira, however, made a speech when asked by the court if he had anything to add to the record. “What can I possibly do on this day? I am stuck between the occupation and the occupation. I am a man of the earth, a farmer, and I suffer with my land and I suffer with the occupation.” His lawyer interrupted the speech by whispering that “it will not help anything Ibrahim. It is best to stay quiet.” Hands shackled, he looked over to his family and Israeli friends in the court room and simply said “Kibush” (occupation) with a shrug. Another military court decision that greatly impacts the peace process, prospects for a Palestinian Gandhi and the soul of a democratic Israel.