BILIN: A NON-VIOLENTLY RESISTING VILLAGES FACES ISRAELI ARMY NIGHT RAIDS, ARRESTS, DESTRUCTION, KILLINGS
Bil’in demonstrates against ongoing night raids and arrests.Take action against suppression of Palestinian non-violent resistance in Bil’in
A few weeks ago, in the dead of night, dozens of Israeli soldiers with painted faces burst violently into my home. If only they had knocked,I would have opened the door. They arrested me. My wife, Lamia, was left alone with our four children. My youngest, 3-year-old Khaled,woke up to the image of Israeli soldiers with painted faces who were taking his father away. He has not stopped crying since. A few nights ago he woke up in terror, sobbing: “Daddy, why did you let the soldiers take me?” That’s the way our children sleep–in a constant state of fear.
Desmond Tutu made an impromptu statement: “Mahatma Gandhi, as a simple man, led his people to freedom through nonviolent methods. Rosa Parks followed in his footsteps, and now the people of Bilin will do the same!”
Former US President Jimmy Carter added that “We are standing here on Palestinian land and on the other side of the wall is also Palestinian land! This occupation must end.”
Also present in the meeting was Shai Pollak, an Israeli activist and long-time supporter of the people of Bilin — “a member of the family” as Mohammed Khatib described him.
“Twenty years ago, I did my military service,” Shai explained, “but if I knew then what I know now, I never would have served in the Israeli army.”
“Israeli society today is becoming increasingly closed off,” Shai continued, “making pressure from outside even more important. After the second intifada, I went and met with literally thousands of Palestinians. While my friends in Tel Aviv were telling me they would stab me with a knife, the opposite was true. Everyone I met welcomed me with open arms, because the Palestinian people want a peaceful solution.”
UPDATE: Mohammed Khatib released after 15 days in prison on false charges.
Bilin’s unwavering spirit of resistance
“…The evidence presented against the defendants is known as “secret evidence,” meaning only the prosecution and the judge can see it, and hence no defense can be put forward. The whole process is conducted in Hebrew, a language most Palestinians don’t understand.
…Of course, the imprisonment of all the boys from Bilin is completely unjustified. After all, they are arrested for their participation in demonstrations against the wall, which defies not only international law, but also, in the case of Bilin, an Israeli high court order!
However, the arrest of Mohammed Khatib was particularly symbolic. As a senior member of the village’s Popular Committee, the Israeli authorities’ goal was clear — arrest the leadership in an attempt to crush the nonviolent resistance. In addition, the only alleged evidence against Khatib is the testimonies of two 16-year-old boys from the village, both of whom were subjected to interrogation by the Israeli army.
A few days later, I was back in Ofer for another hearing. This time, the prosecution presented a photo of a man throwing stones as evidence, who the two youths had “confirmed” as Mohammed Khatib. The defense attorney asked for the date when the photo was taken, which was given as October 2008. The defense attorney then presented the judge with Khatib’s passport.
Mohammed Khatib was not in the country in October 2008, he was in New Caledonia.
The prosecution’s case had been exposed for what it truly was — a political mission to put an end to the nonviolent resistance movement of Bilin, a mission in which they are doomed to fail.”
3 August 2009 [ISM updates and information]
At around 3am on Monday morning, a large military force wearing combat paint and masks invaded the West Bank village of Bil’in. Israeli soldiers raided several homes, arresting 2 Palestinian children, 5 Palestinian adults including Mohammad Khatib of the Bil’in Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements.
Abdullah Abu Rahme, coordinator of the popular committee stated,
Mohmmad Khatib and Adib Abu Rahme along with other leaders of the Palestinian popular struggle are being targeted because the mobilize Palestinians to resist non violently. The fact is that the Apartheid Wall and the settlements built on Palestinian land are illegal under international law, in the case of our village even the biased Israeli court declared the route illegal. Yet Israel is prosecuting us as criminals because we struggle nonviolently for our freedom.
[Adeeb Abu Rahme, has remained in custody since his arrest during a demonstration against the Wall in Bil’in on July 10th.]
Adeeb Abu Rahme, a leading Palestinian non-violent peace activist was arrested in the weekly Bil’in demonstration against the Apartheid Wall (see the video, Adeeb is the protester in the orange shirt with the mega-phone).
On August 3, my husband Mohammed Khatib, and my little brother Abdullah, were taken from their beds in our West Bank village of Bil’in at 3 AM by the Israeli military. My husband is a member of the Bil’in Popular Committee, which has been leading our village’s nonviolent campaign against Israel’s construction of a Wall and a settlement on our land. For nearly five years, every Friday we have been joined by supporters from Israel and around the world as we attempt to march to our land on the other side of the Wall. According to the terms of the Fourth Geneva Convention, the settlement amounts to a war crime, and in 2004 the International Court of Justice ruled the Wall illegal.
Demonstrator killed in Bil’in by Israeli forces
Friday, 17 April 2009, Bil’in Village: A resident has been killed by Israeli forces during a demonstration. Basem Abu Rahme, 29 years of age, was shot in the chest with a high-velocity tear gas projectile. He was evacuated to Ramallah hospital in critical condition, where he died of his injury. According to eyewitnesses, Basem was on a hill with several journalists to the side of other demonstrators. Soldiers opened fire from 40 meters, aiming directly with the tear-gas projectiles.
Night demonstration in front of the west bank military commander’s house in Tel Aviv. against the arrests and invasions in the village of Bilin.
OCCUPIED EAST JERUSALEM:
They wore hoods and black clothes, shouting: This is Israel here, not Palestine
“We were asleep. I didn’t hear them come in the house. I opened my eyes, they were wearing hoods and black clothes, and they shouted : ‘Get up, this is Israel here, not Palestine.’ I just had enough time to grab my two children. Within a few minutes we were on the sidewalk. In front of our house. It was over.”
A few months after the Al Kurd family, the same thing happens to the Al Ghawy and Hannoun families, evicted from their houses in Sheikh Jarrah, an East Jerusalem Arab district, on Sunday, 2 August, at 5 a.m.
…At the heart of these daily evictions of Palestinian families from East Jerusalem lies the Israeli policy for the colonization and judaïzation of Jerusalem…
Israel evicts two Palestinian families – 2 Aug 09
Evicted Jerusalem family refuses to give up
…It was only a couple of hours before a van of Jewish settlers drove up and began moving in to the Hanoun family’s house. I watched as soldiers ushered the settlers through to the house they had just stolen. A distraught Jana had to be held back from scaling the fence, for fear that she would be the next to be beaten.
Rabbis for Human Rights Director about his arrest at Sheikh Jarakh
“…in my 14 years directing RHR I have seen the security forces at their worst and at their best. It is human nature and almost unavoidable that they identify more with their fellow Israelis than Palestinians. However, in all these 14 years I have never seen collusion between police and settlers like we have seen from the “Shalem” police station in Silwan over the last two years (Where Palestinians know that if they complain about being attacked by Israelis, they will be the ones arrested), and now in Sheikh Jarakh.”
SOUTH HEBRON HILLS (SETTLER ATTACKS AND IOF HARRASMENT)
Settlers Attack on Susya [11 September 2009]
Settler stabs B’Tselem worker in Susiya [10 August 2009]
Settlers attack Jaziya Nawaj’ah while she grazes her flock near Khirbet Susiya [10 August 2009]
Israeli soldiers harass Susiyan herder [1 August 2009]
Settlers set fire to Palestinian home in Susiya [22 June 2009]
