Hundreds of activists join Bil’in in struggle against ‘Israeli apartheid’
BIL’IN, West Bank – Far from the typical wrapping up of a normal conference, the fourth Bil’in international three-day meeting closed on Friday with a peaceful march towards the separation wall that is robbing up to 60% of the villagers’ land.
Awaiting ahead, Israeli soldiers, fully armed with tear gas grenades and live ammunition, ready to greet the protestors.
Only a week ago, 31-year-old Bassem Abu Rahma was killed here after he was shot in the chest by a tear gas canister from close range, as he was on the frontline in the weekly protest against the occupation. Footage released soon after shows clearly that he was not involved in any violence.
A week later, the people of Bil’in are still in mourning, but they are encouraged by the presence of hundreds of foreign peace activists gathered here, including Israelis, who are marching with them in solidarity while holding posters of Bassem’s photo.
The Palestinian flag was flanked by dozens of others from all over the world, including the EU flag carried by the European Parliament’s vice-president Luisa Morgantini.
“We are here, Palestinians, Israelis, and internationals from across the world to say together: stop the occupation, for Palestinians but also for the Israelis,” she said. “Stop building the wall, stop confiscating land, stop the siege on Gaza.”
Morgantini told Ramattan the international community has to get Israel to stop the cruel occupation.
“That is why I’m here, and that is why the European Parliament has frozen the upgrade of Israel’s relations with the EU,” she said. “It’s high time the Israeli government stops considering itself above international law.”
The Irish Nobel Peace Prize winner Mairead Maguire was also present for the march, stating her full support for the nonviolent resistance that started off from Bil’in four years ago and which is spreading over to other Palestinian villages facing the same policies of segregation
“We won’t solve our world’s problems unless we use peaceful means,” she said, calling Israeli policy of evictions of Palestinians from East Jerusalem and the confiscation of their land all over the West Bank “ethnic cleansing”.
Even former US President Jimmy Carter, though not present in person, sent a letter that was read at the start of the conference, calling the villagers “an inspiration for the world” and urging them “to continue their nonviolent struggle for peace”.
Also present was a delegation from the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (SATAWU) – the first union in the world to issue directives to its members boycotting Israeli products from being offloaded in Durban after the war on Gaza.
“Apartheid is not over until Zionism is over,” said SATAWU International Officer Zico Tamela. “We decided we did not want to dirty hands with Israeli ships. What we did at the beginning of the year is just the tip of the iceberg.”
As the march progressed Israeli soldiers, as always, showered the demonstrators with tear gas and rubber-coated bullets. At least 10 were injured and had to be hospitalised.
Indeed, just as the soldiers violently deny Palestinians the right to cross the fence into their own land – as granted to them even by an Israeli court – Israel persists in its policy of occupation as more settlements keep being built and more land is confiscated illegally.
Besides a sentence by the Israeli Court of Justice in 2004 stating that the wall goes against international law, a case filed by the villagers of Bil’in has resulted in an Israeli High Court ruling, stating that a substantial part of the wall here has to be re-routed as it “imposes undue hardships on Palestinians”.
That might be an understatement, but the Israeli government is blatantly ignoring even its own High Court as what it calls a “security fence” – aptly dubbed “apartheid wall” by Palestinians and foreign sympathisers – remains totally closed and heavily guarded.
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