commentary from Israel & the West Bank
Posts tagged bilin
Criminalizing Peaceful Protest: Israel Jails Another Palestinian Gandhi
Aug 26th
Last year, on the night of International Human Rights Day at 2am, Abdallah Abu Rahmah was arrested from his home in the West Bank city of Ramallah. Abu Rahmah is the coordinator of the Bil’in Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements and was arrested for coordinating the weekly unarmed protest against Israel’s separation barrier. During his arrest seven military jeeps surrounded his house as Israeli soldiers broke the door, and took Abdallah from his bed. After briefly allowing him to say goodbye to his wife Majida and their three children, he was blindfolded and taken to the Ofer military prison.
Bil’in has become an internationally recognized symbol of Palestinian unarmed and largely nonviolent resistance to Israel’s controversial separation wall and continued settlement expansion. Thousands of Israelis, Palestinians and international supporters including former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, Mahatma Gandhi’s grandson, Desmond Tutu and Naomi Klein have joined in Bilin’s weekly demonstrations since they began. The village’s struggle is the subject of a riveting documentary, “Bil’in, Habibti,” by Israeli filmmaker/activist Shai Pollak.
Israel has responded to the international attention on Bil’in with a campaign of repression which has included waves of arrests, daily night raids, repeated use of high velocity tear gas projectiles against protesters (resulting in the death of Bassam Abu Rahmah in 2009 and countless injuries) and the use of military courts to persecute the leaders of the popular committee against the wall. According to Adv. Gaby Lasky, Abu Rahmah’s lawyer, “Soldiers have killed and injured dozens and hundreds of protesters in the attempt to stop the Palestinian popular struggle, but have failed. They are now trying to illegitimately use the courts and the legal system in the same way. The international community must take a tough stand on this issue.”
Abdallah Abu Rahmah, along with another popular committee member Adeed Abu Ramha, is the latest nonviolent grassroots Palestinian leader to stand before Israel’s military court. Abu Ramha has represented the village of Bil’in around the world. On December 10th 2008, Abu Rahmah received the Carl Von Ossietzky Medal for Outstanding Service in the Realization of Basic Human Rights, awarded by the International League for Human Rights in Berlin.
Since his arrest, Abdallah Abu Rahmah has not been able to see his wife or children. Israel considers the Ofer military prison, where he is being held, to be part of Israeli sovereign territory despite its location in the heart of the West Bank. In order to visit her husband, Abu Ramha’s wife is required to get an entry permit to Israel. She has been routinely denied this permit because her husband is considered a ‘security risk’. Abu Rahmah is not even permitted to make phone calls because of his security status.
To understand the absurdity of the charges brought against Abu Rahmah, consider that he was initially indicted for making an art exhibit out of used tear-gas projectiles and bullets. Who knew that a peace sign constructed out of instruments of repression could threaten Israeli security? This absurd arms possession charge is a clear example of how eager the military prosecution is to use legal procedures as a tool to silence and smear unarmed dissent.
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Documentary Film Maker Arrested in Bil’in for Filming the Demonstration
Aug 21st
David Reeb, a long time documentary film maker who joins various weekly protests through the West Bank was arrested yesterday in Bil’in as he was filming the non violent protest.
Despite the intense heat and high temperature, on the second Friday in Ramadan, a sizable march organized by the Popular Committee commenced from the center of the village right after the Friday prayers.
The protesters, consisting of many Palestinians and dozens of International and Israeli activists, called for the prosecution of the Israeli soldiers behind the recent Facebook scandal. Not only did one of the soldiers pose with bound and gagged prisoners, Eden Abergil, stated that she would “gladly kill Arabs – even slaughter them.”
As the protesters neared the separation wall and approached the soldiers with pictures of other Israeli soldiers posing and torturing prisoners, teargas was fired heavily at the protesters and journalists. Clashes continued for hours when the Israeli military attempted to advance into the village.
Journalist, Haitham Al-Khatib suffered minor injuries when the military attempted to arrest him.International activist, Evie, and David, were arrested while Evie was peacefully demonstrating against the occupation and David filming.
Journalist Arrested During the Weekly Protest in Bil’in
May 22nd
During the weekly protest against the wall yesterday in the West Bank village of Bil’in, film maker Yisrael Putermam was arrested. Many of the videos posted on this website are Yisrael’s. His tireless commitment to documenting the struggle against the occupation in the West Bank is truly respectable. He was arrested and released the same day, although I am told that he will have a court hearing in the coming days. Below is his footage from the day before his arrest.
UPDATE:
Video from Friday’s protest in the West Bank village of Nil’in. Filmed by David Reeb
The Struggle has Spread to 16 Villages but Bil’in is still its Core.
May 3rd
The Real News network covered the Bil’in conference two weeks ago and had posted this excellent report. Of particular interest is the internal Palestinian politicking that is taking place around the non violent struggle in Bil’in and other villages. If an a “white intifada” is too begin around these villages in the coming months, the positions of various Palestinian factions is going to be quite interesting and this video provides a small window into how these factions might react.
Video From Weekly Protests in Bil’in and Sheikh Jarrah
Apr 17th
Video from Bil’in by Yisrael Puternam
Video from Shiekh Jarrah by Yisrael Puternam
Video and report from Nil’in and Nabi Salih will be posted in next days as I am editing the footage now.
News from the Weekly Protests throughout the West Bank/Jerusalem
Mar 16th
Sheikh Jarrah
Around 200 protestors marched from Hamashbir square, without letting offensive and fascist remarks from passersby to interrupt them along the way. 50 others joined them when they got to Sheikh Jarrah. High presence of Yassam (Police Special Patrol Unit) in the area was noted. The protestors tried to make their way to the house of one of the evicted families, where they intended to hold a protest vigil. They were blocked by police-officers that decreed the protest illegal. After several minutes of negotiation, the officers, breaking supreme and district court rulings, started to forcefully shove the protestors to the other side of the road, arresting two of them in the process. Moving the demonstration to the garden didn’t suffice to the police officers, and they maintained their violent attacks on the protestors. Later on, small groups of demonstrators that made their way back to the family house, also were brutally dispersed, some of their members arrested, as well. In total, 11 activists were illegally arrested during the demonstration. After a few hours, all of them were released, after signing a restraining order for 15 days from the neighbourhood, which is currently under discussion in the district court.
Meanwhile in the neighbourhood, after the demonstration dispersed, settlers violently assaulted the Palestinian dwellers and Israeli activists that remained in place. The settlers threw stones at people and cars, some of which were damaged. Needless to say that none of them was detained or arrested.
Nil’in
Hundreds of people from the town and surrounding villages of Ni’lin gathered on the threatened land, where they affirmed the need to resist the aggressive policies of occupation. Villagers were accompanied by their animals, a symbol of their age old connection with the land that they have farmed for generations. Images and posters of Tristan Anderson were prevalent, the American ISM activist now in a coma after being struck with a tear gas canister during a demonstration.
Nil’in resident Salah Amira and an unnamed Israeli activist were arrested during clashes that lasted late into the afternoon. Israeli soldiers fired rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse the crowd, but no serious injuries were reported.
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Weekly Bil’in Update With Love
Mar 6th
Bil’in, 5/3/2010
In Bil’in dozens suffered from gas inhalation when troops suppressed a march against the Israeli occupation organized by the Popular Committee Against the Wall and settlements. The demonstration was a manifestation against the wall being built on Bil’in’s land and the annexation and expansion of Israeli apartheid. The occupation forces fired tear gas towards the citizens of Bil’in, foreign peace activists and peace-loving Israelis.
This week’s demonstartion marked the Global Week against racism in the world and coincided with many popular events against racism and oppression against the peoples and territories – in particular the Palestinian people. The demonstration begun after Friday prayers and marched from the centre of the village, then continued to the western gate of the wall. Over one hundred people participated in the march, including a group from the PFLP (The Popular front for the Liberation of Palestine) and a delegation from the Freedom Theatre in Jenin. The demonstration was headed by people dressed up as three prominent figures in the global struggle against racism and occupation: Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King. Palestinian flags were raised and toured the village streets as the participants chanted slogans condemning the wall and the occupation.
As the march reached the wall it was met with a shower of tear gas, rubber bullets and sound bombs, then clashes broke out between demonstrators and occupation soldiers. The demonstartion lasted for hours as troops deliberately fired tear gas towards crews of journalists from Palestine TV and other stations to discourage the footage from the International Week Against Racism -and the Popular Committee’s condemnation of Israel’s racist and immoral practices- from being broadcast. In response, the Popular Committee stressed the need for cohesion, national unity and solidarity and highlighted that it was in the public interest for everyone involved in anti-racist stuggles to stand shoulder to shoulder with each other.
Another Day in the Occupation
Feb 22nd
22 February 2010
At 9:30am residents of Bil’in village, Palestinian political representatives, and International activists gathered in Bil’in to plant olive trees and almond seeds for 20 farmers who own land besides Israel’s Apartheid Wall. Approximately 200 trees were planted as part of the ongoing popular resistance to the Israeli apartheid wall and settlements. Bil’in has organized weekly and sometimes daily actions against the wall for the past five years, gaining international attention for the struggle and becoming a symbol for nonviolent, creative, popular struggle around the West Bank of Palestine.
An hour into the planting, an Israeli soldier appeared on the other side of the wall and gave a warning shot. He stated that planting next to the Wall is forbidden and that people were to stay 10 metres away from the wall. A jeep with four soldiers arrived and stood guard as the people continued planting slightly farther from the wall.
Two years ago the Israeli Supreme Court had deemed the path of the Wall, which cuts through Bil’in’s agricultural land to be illegal. Construction work to reroute the Wall in Bil’in began on February 11th, 2010. Israel has twice been found to be in contempt of court for not implementing the decision sooner. Residents of the village have had permission to access their land on the other side of the wall even before the courts ruling two years ago. Today, farmers planted 80 trees on the other side of the wall.
Five Years of Struggle in Bil’in
Feb 21st
A complex logistic operation of the A.A. Wall travel agency brought over 300 people from Israel to Bil’in’s 5th anniversary demonstration. Despite several attempts, the army managed to prevent only a small number of cars from entering the village. The demonstrators joined radical clowns, a Palestinian prime minister, the Ka/Ya-Samba percussionists, representatives of various Palestinian parties, The Palestinian Struggle Youth Union marching band, one mayor from Geneva, dozens of journalists and supporters from all over Palestine and other parts of the world to express solidarity with the local wo/men of Bil’in in their struggle against the evils of the Israeli Occupation. After a string of speeches in various languages and a jam session of the Palestinian marching band and the percussionists residing between the wall and the Mediterranean, over 1,000 people marched to the wall. The soldiers stood behind their usual post, and so the demonstrators broke forward, crossed the gate, bent the fence, crossed it, and marched over the soldiers’ front post. After a few minutes of ecstasy, while dignitaries were still making their way forward, the army’s foul water cannon made a surprise guest appearance, and managed to push the demonstrators back behind the fence. In a typical expression of oppression, after the demonstrators backed away from the smelly water, the army used a cannon to fire dozens of gas canisters – not into the few demonstrators at the front, but rather into the hundreds retreating or standing peacefully behind. The wind coming down the path combined with the panic of inexperienced demonstrators led to many injuries from gas inhalation, impact and falling. After the initial dispersal some demonstrators remained to absorb exceptionally large amounts of gas for the struggle. As has become customary lately, when the last demonstrators were on their way to the village, a few soldiers invaded the village, but due to the massive presence of supporters, they settled for one more round of gas, returning to bask in their own stench.
Demonstrator suffers moderate wounds in Bil’in
Aug 28th
Posted by Joseph Dana in Unarmed Resistance
2 comments
One demonstrator was evacuated to the Ramallah hospital with moderate injuries, after a rubber coated bullet shot at him from a short distance lodged itself in his knee.
Protest against the apartheid wall, Bilin, Palestine, 8/1/2010. Photo by: Oren Ziv/ Activestills.org
This week’s demonstration in Bil’in commemorated the 9th anniversary to the assassination of PFLP leader Abu Ali Mustafa by a missile shot into his home by Israel. A large PFLP delegation as well as some fifty Israeli and international activists joined the people of Bil’in.
Demonstrators also denounced the recent conviction of Abdallah Abu Rahmah on charges of incitement ond organizing illegal demonstrations. Some protesters wore masks of Abdallah’s face, delivering the message that in imprisoning Abu Rahmah, Israel only strengthen the spirit of resistance he represents.
Demonstrators got only numbered minutes to protest, before the unprovoked salvo of tear-gas began. The continuous firing of tear-gas forced most of the demonstrators to retreat, leaving only a small number of youth, photographers, and a few older protesters preferred risking arrest over running into the thick clouds of gas.
When the soldiers saw that these last few demonstrators couldn’t be scared away, they invaded the village, chasing after the youth. The demonstrators were pushed further back by the gas, way beyond the area designated as a closed military zone. Following the invasion, limited confrontations began as local youth attempted to hold back the army from entering the village.
The soldiers escalated the violence and added the use of rubber-coated bullets to their arsenal. Just before the soldiers finally retreated, one youth was hit with a rubber bullet that lodged itself inside his knee. He was evacuated to the Ramallah hospital suffering moderate wounds.
From the Popular Struggle Coordination Committee