Palestine-Israel, Fourth year of Friday demonstrations in the joint struggle in Bil'in against the separation fence and occupation

Ilan Against the Wall, 22.3.08. It seems the Israeli state is accepting its defeat in its efforts to put end to the Friday demonstrations in Bil'in. This week we had witnessed again the continuance of the gradual de-escalation of the suppression of the Friday activity in Bil'in. We arrived in Bil'in from Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, telling on the way to new comers about the long confrontations in the first years when the state forces tried to block the Israelis way to Bil'in - pointing on critical points on the way where activists of the anarchists against the wall initiative out smart them and succeeded to penetrate to Bil'in. On the way, the state force guarding the road blocks do not bother to even look at us. On the demonstration itself, the state force threatened us as usual, but they were not making too much efforts to back that by action.

Separate but Unequal in Palestine: The Road to Apartheid

Mohammed Khatib, Dissident Voice, 2.11.07. When United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visited the Middle East a few weeks ago, people from our small village of Bil’in joined neighboring villages to send her a message. We protested peacefully against a West Bank highway near us that is reserved for Jewish Israeli settlers, and off-limits to Palestinians, though it was built on Palestinian land. Our banner read: “Condi, What would Rosa Parks do?”

We know that Dr. Rice experienced the bitter taste of discrimination growing up in the South during the US civil rights struggle. In Bil’in, we’ve drawn inspiration from the US civil rights movement as we’ve carried out a three year nonviolent resistance campaign against the discriminatory policies of Israel’s military occupation.

We share Dr. Rice’s admiration for the courage of Rosa Parks who was arrested in Alabama, Rice’s home state, for refusing to give her bus seat to a white man. As Palestinians we aren’t even allowed in buses on many roads in our own country, because 200 miles of the best West Bank roads are reserved for Israeli Jewish settlers.¹ The color of Palestinian license plates is different from the licenses of Israelis. Palestinian plates are not allowed on most of the highways crisscrossing the West Bank, many of which were built with US government funding. Palestinians have been banned for five years now from Highway 443 where we protested.

According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), there are 561 physical obstacles and checkpoints inside the West Bank restricting Palestinian movement within the West Bank,² in comparison with only eight checkpoints which separate the West Bank from Israel proper. Nearly all the obstacles and checkpoints are located along the West Bank roads reserved for Israelis. This makes getting to the hospital, school and work or visiting relatives painstakingly difficult or impossible for us. This fragmentation of the West Bank has devastated our economy.

In 2001, Israeli developers began building settlement homes on land seized from Bil’in, calling them a neighborhood of the Modi’in Illit settlement bloc. Four years later, Israel’s segregation wall separated Bil’in from 50% of our agricultural land under the pretext of protecting this new settlement. In response, we held over 200 nonviolent protests together with Israeli and international supporters. Hundreds of us were injured and arrested. After our protests, Israel’s Supreme Court ruled that the wall’s route in Bil’in must be changed to return around half of our seized land. Though we celebrated this success, Israel continues to build on our land that wasn’t returned and plans to annex it as part of the Modi’in Illit settlement bloc.⁴

Israel has already de facto annexed the 10.2% of the West Bank that lies between the Green Line and the segregation wall, including the major settlement blocs and 80% of Israel’s 450,000 settlers. The segregation wall, settlements and settlement roads carve Palestinian areas into isolated enclaves.

We pray that our children will not spend their lives under Israeli military occupation. We hope that the Annapolis meeting will bring our dreams of freedom closer to fulfillment. But we are concerned that if Israel is allowed to keep most of its settlements and the roads that connect them, then the existing system of “separate but unequal” will be cemented in place in a Palestinian state.

1. Forbidden roads: The discriminatory West Bank road regime, B’Tselem. #
2. OCHA Closure Update: October 2007, The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. #
3. West Bank settlements ‘expanding’ BBC, 7 November 2007. #
4. One Palestinian Village Struggles Against Israel’s Ever-Expanding “Settlements”, Alternet, 26 September 2007. #

Mohammed Khatib is a leading member of Bilin's Popular Committee Against the Wall and the secretary of its village council. Read other articles by Mohammed, or visit Mohammed's website.

Nothing less than our freedom

Mohammed Khatib, The Electronic Intifada, 7.11.07. For the people of our small village of Bil'in, which lies west of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, the planned negotiations between Palestinian and Israeli leaders in Annapolis, Maryland evoke mixed feelings. Like all Palestinians, we pray that our children will not spend their lives as we did, under Israeli military occupation. But our experience has been that Israel, the stronger party, exploits peace talks as a smokescreen to obscure facts that it is establishing on the ground. During the Oslo "peace" process Israel built settlements in the occupied territories at an unprecedented rate. Israel's system of settler-only roads, which is now strangling our cities and villages, was created during the Oslo process. This makes us wary of the Annapolis negotiations.

Israel built settlements throughout the West Bank even though international law prohibits an occupying power from settling its population in occupied territory. Now Israel intends to annex most West Bank settlement blocs either through negotiated agreement with the Palestinians, or unilaterally.

Bil'in, like tens of West Bank villages, is losing vital land and resources to Israel's settlement blocs. In 1991, Israel confiscated 200 acres of our village's land and declared them state land. In 2001 private Israeli developers began building a new Jewish settlement there, as part of the Modi'in Illit settlement bloc.

In 2005 Israel's apartheid wall separated Bil'in from 50 percent of our agricultural land. In response, we held over 100 nonviolent protests together with Israeli and international supporters. Hundreds of us were injured and arrested. After our protests and a legal appeal, Israel's high court ruled last month that the wall's route in Bil'in must be changed to return about half of our land that was taken.

Though we celebrated this success, Israel, with US backing, still plans to annex the Modi'in Illit settlement bloc which includes more of our land. Unlike the settlements initiated by the settler movements, the settlement blocs were built in strategic areas by the Israeli government under the Likud, Labor, and Kadima parties. The settlement blocs are designed to ensure Israeli control of our movement, borders, access to water and of Jerusalem, even following the creation of a "sovereign" Palestinian state.

Some Israeli politicians claim that the settlement blocs that Israel intends to annex comprise five percent of the West Bank. However, these politicians do not include the settlements in occupied East Jerusalem in their calculations because occupied East Jerusalem was unilaterally and illegally annexed by Israel in 1967.

But in reality, Israel has already de facto annexed the strategic 10.2 percent of the West Bank that lies between the Green Line and the apartheid wall, including the settlement blocs. About 80 percent of all Israeli settlers now reside west of the apartheid wall and inside the West Bank.

As Palestinians, we have expressed our willingness to live together on this land with the Jewish people, and to live in one democratic state with Jewish Israelis as equal citizens. However, most Jewish Israelis and their politicians have clearly stated that they must live in a Jewish state, not in a state for all of its citizens. For this reason, we agreed to live in two states -- Palestine side by side with Israel.

For Palestinians, agreeing to live in a state on 22 percent of our historic homeland was a great compromise. But Yasser Arafat was besieged in his office by Israel because he didn't accept Israel's so-called "generous offer" at Camp David. He was punished because he would not surrender yet more land, and accept a state composed of isolated cantons carved up by Israel's settlement blocs.

We take strength from our faith that no situation of injustice can continue forever. In the end we will all have to live on this land as equals. When that time finally comes we will discover that we are more similar than different. Until then, we will not accept shiny trinkets made of words like "state" and "sovereignty" when we know that within our "state" we will not be able to access our water, exit and enter freely, or move from one place to another without Israeli permission. I will not be free so long as Israel's settlement blocs and wall steal and carve up my land and surround my capital, Jerusalem.

We have suffered too much for too long. We will not accept apartheid masked as peace. We will settle for no less than our freedom.

Mohammed Khatib is a leading member of Bil'in's Popular Committee Against the Wall and the secretary of Bil'in's Village Council. For more information see http://www.apartheidmasked.org/.

Resistenza nonviolenta, due manifestazioni contro il Muro dell'Apartheid.

Ramallah/Gerusalemme - Infopal. 29/09/07. A dispetto della recente sentenza dell'Alta Corte di Giustizia israeliana, che ha sentenziato l'illegalità della costruzione del Muro a Bil'in e ne ha chiesto la rimozione, i lavori stanno continuando.

Durante la manifestazione settimanale nonviolenta, che da oltre due anni si svolge nella cittadina Bil'in, nei pressi di Ramallah, 9 civili sono stati feriti dall'esercito israeliano.

Come consueto, cittadini di Bil'in, stranieri e pacifisti israeliani hanno marciato, dopo la preghiera del venerdì, verso il Muro che il governo di Israele sta facendo erigere per sottrarre altre terre palestinesi.

I militari hanno attaccato la folla con bastoni, bombe a gas e al suono, ferendo nove persone.

Sempre nella giornata di ieri, un centinaio di cittadini palestinesi, di stranieri e israeliani hanno manifestato in modo pacifico contro la costruzione illegale del Muro di Separazione sulle terre di al-Walaja, nei pressi di Gerusalemme.

I soldati israeliani hanno circondato i manifestanti, ma li hanno lasciati marciare.

I pacifisti sono rimasti per un'ora e mezza davanti al Muro, tenendo discorsi e sventolando bandiere palestinesi.

Friday demo - in Bilin 10/8/07 (the 131th) Palestine-Israel, the week end joint struggle against the separation fence and occupation

When we were still a long way from the usual point of confrontation with the Israeli state force, we heard their threat to assault us if we come too near... As the 100 guests included also women, and kids, the popular comity decided to stop earlier than usual and have the public meeting there.

When all the participants arrived, speeches and explanations were given. After it ended, the nonviolent demonstrators and the guests returned to the apartment we always meet in and more explanation were given to the guests.
---------------------------------

The other Friday demonstration was at the village Wallage. There at noon, 100 of the villagers together with 25 Israelis of the AATW initiative, and about the same number of internationals, approached the area the separation fence is built on. After the mid day prayer of the villages, the demonstrators invaded the route of the fence holding hands and defying the state forces who try to drive them away. There were lot of pushing and pushing back, throwing of tear gas grenades and shooting where they fell to prevent the throwing these back on the soldiers. The gendarmes complained why the reservist soldiers were nearly not active and got one of them to start throwing stones confrontation. After the border gendarmes were issued batons and they started to use it, the demonstrators dispersed. When the state force drove away they passed near the anarchist car and vent their frustration from the confrontation by breaking its rear window.
=========================================

On Saturday we had a sample of another joint struggle against the occupation - demonstrations and temporary removal of road blocks that force Palestinians of the occupied West bank to use round about roads and paths instead of the main roads. A planned demonstration and action in the village Sarra was canceled, so the contingent of the AATW who used round about path up the hill to arrive at Sarra had to use another round about route to get to the demonstration and action in the village Qusin.

Arriving there, we marched together up the road leading to the locked gate on the main and easy road to the near by Nablus. Though there is a military camp near the locked gate, located near a sign forbidding Israeli from passing as it marks Palestinian area A. people succeeded to break the chain locking the gate. After a short celebration all the people started to return to the village.

The state force of the near camp got organized a bit late. They came in few cars and tried to block the way of the demonstrators to the village and to punish us on using the road near the camp.

In their efforts they shoot us with tear gas grenade and tried to destroy cameras and video equipment..... but were prevented from doing it. Most of the village people use the hill paths to escape from the state force harassment but two of them, 5 internationals and 6 of the Israeli AATW were detained.

After using round about path the 4 of us who were not arrested arrived at our car and started to participate in the publicity of the action and the support of the people detained. At a certain point we were informed the detained were arrested and will be taken to the regional Ariel police station.

We traveled there and were in time to say hallo to the comrades when they were taken from the military car into the police station for procession.

There we could see the harsh treatment of the two Palestinian comrades who were with tied hands and covered eyes - treatment the others were not suffering.

Gradually, the Israeli and the internationals were released subject to accepting the restriction not to enter closed military zone during the following 15 days signing self bail of 3000 shekel each.

http://awalls.org

Palestine-Israel, the week end joint struggle against the separation fence and occupation

Ilan S., Anarchit against the Wall, 15/09/07. On Friday we had two joint demonstrations against the separation fence. One was a continuation of the celebration in Bil'in for the partial victory against the route of the separation fence - the Israeli highest court was forced to partially accept the petition of Bil'in against the present route. About 100 Palestinians from Jericho (including the mayor) arrived a bit late for the original plan as they were stopped time and again in road blocks on their way. Thus, after the noon prayer, they joined the Bil'in villagers, the internationals, and a small team of the Israeli anarchists against the wall (AATW) in a march on the road to the route of the separation fence.

When we were still a long way from the usual point of confrontation with the Israeli state force, we heard their threat to assault us if we come too near... As the 100 guests included also women, and kids, the popular comity decided to stop earlier than usual and have the public meeting there.

When all the participants arrived, speeches and explanations were given. After it ended, the nonviolent demonstrators and the guests returned to the apartment we always meet in and more explanation were given to the guests.
---------------------------------

The other Friday demonstration was at the village Wallage. There at noon, 100 of the villagers together with 25 Israelis of the AATW initiative, and about the same number of internationals, approached the area the separation fence is built on. After the mid day prayer of the villages, the demonstrators invaded the route of the fence holding hands and defying the state forces who try to drive them away. There were lot of pushing and pushing back, throwing of tear gas grenades and shooting where they fell to prevent the throwing these back on the soldiers. The gendarmes complained why the reservist soldiers were nearly not active and got one of them to start throwing stones confrontation. After the border gendarmes were issued batons and they started to use it, the demonstrators dispersed. When the state force drove away they passed near the anarchist car and vent their frustration from the confrontation by breaking its rear window.
=========================================

On Saturday we had a sample of another joint struggle against the occupation - demonstrations and temporary removal of road blocks that force Palestinians of the occupied West bank to use round about roads and paths instead of the main roads. A planned demonstration and action in the village Sarra was canceled, so the contingent of the AATW who used round about path up the hill to arrive at Sarra had to use another round about route to get to the demonstration and action in the village Qusin.

Arriving there, we marched together up the road leading to the locked gate on the main and easy road to the near by Nablus. Though there is a military camp near the locked gate, located near a sign forbidding Israeli from passing as it marks Palestinian area A. people succeeded to break the chain locking the gate. After a short celebration all the people started to return to the village.

The state force of the near camp got organized a bit late. They came in few cars and tried to block the way of the demonstrators to the village and to punish us on using the road near the camp.

In their efforts they shoot us with tear gas grenade and tried to destroy cameras and video equipment..... but were prevented from doing it. Most of the village people use the hill paths to escape from the state force harassment but two of them, 5 internationals and 6 of the Israeli AATW were detained.

After using round about path the 4 of us who were not arrested arrived at our car and started to participate in the publicity of the action and the support of the people detained. At a certain point we were informed the detained were arrested and will be taken to the regional Ariel police station.

We traveled there and were in time to say hallo to the comrades when they were taken from the military car into the police station for procession.

There we could see the harsh treatment of the two Palestinian comrades who were with tied hands and covered eyes - treatment the others were not suffering.

Gradually, the Israeli and the internationals were released subject to accepting the restriction not to enter closed military zone during the following 15 days signing self bail of 3000 shekel each.

http://awalls.org

Bil'in! Bil'in!

Uri Avnery, Gush Shalom, 08/09/07. WHEN MY friends fall prey to despair, I show them a piece of painted concrete, which I bought in Berlin. It is one of the remnants of the Berlin wall, which are on sale in the city. I tell them that I intend, when the time comes, to apply for a franchise to sell pieces of the Separation Wall. Sometimes, when I give a lecture before a German audience, I ask: "How many of you believed, a week before the fall of the wall, that this would happen in their lifetime?" No one has ever raised their hand. But the Berlin wall fell. This week it happened here, too - true, only in one place, to a small section of the fence, when the Supreme Court decided that the government must dismantle the obstacle (which at this place consists of a fence, with ditches, patrol roads and razor wire) and relocate it nearer to the

Palestinian Prime Minister Fayad among the marchers

Green Line.

THE BIBLE commands us: "Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth, and let not thine heart be glad when he stumbleth" (Proberbs 24,17). It is a very hard commandment to obey.

The enemy, in this case, is the "Separation Obstacle". It is hard not to rejoice, even when it is a limited joy, a conditional joy, because we have won a battle, not the campaign.

First of all, a part of the land of Bil'in has been redeemed, but not all of it. The new fence will still be far from the Green Line. The length of the section to be dismantled is less than two kilometers.

Human rights activist Mustapha Barghouti
carried on the shoulders of a dancing demonstrators

Second, Bil'in is only one of many villages whose land has been stolen by means of the wall.

Third, the wall is only one of the means of occupation, and the occupation gets worse by the day.

Fourth, in many other places the Supreme Court has confirmed the path of the fence, even though it steals Palestinian land no less than at Bil'in.

Fifth, the Bil'in decision also has a negative side: it gives the court an alibi in the eyes of the world. It confers on the settlers an apparent legitimacy in many other places. It must not be forgotten for a moment that the Supreme Court is essentially an instrument of the occupation, even though it tries sometimes to mitigate it.

As if to underline this point, the court itself hastened this week to issue another ruling, giving retroactive authorization to another neighborhood that has also been built on Bil'in land.

Yet in spite of all this: in this desperate struggle, even a small victory is a big victory. Especially since it happened in Bil'in.

FOR BIL'IN is a symbol. In the past two and a half years, it has become a part of our life.

Here, every Friday, for 135 weeks without exception, a demonstration against the fence has taken place.

What is so special about Bil'in, a small and remote village, whose name was known before to just a few outsiders, if any?

The struggle there has become a symbol because of an unusual combinations of traits:

A- STEADFASTNESS. The courage of the Bil'iners. In other villages, too, the demonstrators have shown courage, but here the sheer dogged persistence arouses admiration. Week after week they came back. The activists were arrested again and again, wounded more than once. The entire village has suffered from the terrorism of the occupation authorities.

More than once I was stirred at the sight of this small village's resistance. I saw the armored jeeps storming in, sirens screeching hysterically, the heavily armed policemen jumping out and throwing gas and stun grenades in all directions, young boys stopping the jeeps with their bodies.

B- PARTNERSHIP. The three-cornered partnership between the people of the village, Israeli peace activists and representatives of international solidarity.

This is a kind of partnership that is not expressed in highfaluting speeches or sterile meetings in luxury hotels abroad. It was forged under clouds of choking tear gas, under the jets of water cannons, under fire from stun grenades and rubber-coated steel bullets, and in ambulances of the Red Crescent as well as army detention facilities. It has given birth to comradeship and mutual trust, just when these seemed to have been lost forever in our country.

Since the death of Yasser Arafat, cooperation between Palestinians and Israeli peace movements has declined in several spheres. Many Palestinians have despaired of the Israelis, who have not achieved the hoped-for change, and many Israeli peace activists have despaired in face of the Palestinian reality. But in Bil'in cooperation has flourished.

The Israeli activists, headed by the resolute young women and men of the "Anarchists Against the Fence", have proved to the Palestinians that they have an Israeli partner they can trust, and the people of Bil'in have proved to their Israeli friends that they are reliable and determined partners. I am proud of the part Gush Shalom has played in this struggle.

Now the court has proved that such demonstrations, which many considered hopeless, can indeed bear fruit.

C- NON-VIOLENCE. Always and everywhere. Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King would have been proud of such disciples.

The non-violence was entirely on the side of the demonstrators. I can testify as an eye-witness: in all the demonstrations in which I took part, I saw not a single instance of a demonstrator raising a hand against a soldier or policeman. When in one of the protests stones were thrown from among the protesters, video films conclusively proved that they were thrown by undercover policemen.

True, there was violence at the demonstrations. A lot of violence. But it came from the soldiers and the border-policemen who could not bear, I presume, the sight of Palestinians and Israelis acting together.

Generally, it happened like this: The demonstrators marched together from the center of the village towards the fence. In front there marched young men and women wearing or carrying symbols of non-violence. On one occasion, they were handcuffed to each other, another time they were holding high portraits of Gandhi and Martin Luther King, another time they were carried in cages - imagination and creativity were given free rein. Sometimes well-known personalities marched in front, arms locked.

Near the fence, a large contingent of soldiers and border-policemen were waiting for them, wearing helmets and bullet-proof vests and armed with rifles and grenade launchers, with handcuffs and sticks dangling from their belts. The protesters did not stop but advanced towards the gate, banging on it, shaking it, waving flags and shouting slogans. The soldiers opened fire with gas and stun grenades and rubber-coated steel bullets. Some protesters sat down on the ground, others retreated and then came back again and again. Some were dragged away with their bare backs scraping along the road and the rocks, choking on the gas. Arrests were made. Wounds were treated.

When the demonstration came to a close and the participants headed back towards the village, the local boys would start to sling stones at the soldiers, who responded with rubber bullets. Chases took place between the olive trees, with the light footed boys generally having the advantage.

Sometimes, the stone-slinging started even earlier, when the boys saw from afar the concentration of forces lurking in the village groves and the demonstrators being dragged brutally towards the army vehicles. But, in accordance with the standing agreement among themselves, the protesters never joined in the violence, not even when they were dragged on the rock-strewn ground or were kicked and beaten while lying there.

This combination of steadfastness, partnership and non-violence is what turned Bil'in into a beacon of the struggle against the occupation.

THE BIL'IN affair has another face, which was revealed in all its ugliness over the last few weeks.

The Supreme Court has decided that the path of the fence in this sector was not based on security considerations, but was designed to enlarge the settlement. For us, of course, that was not a startling revelation. Everyone who has been there, including foreign diplomats, has seen it with their own eyes: the path was fixed in such a way that the Bil'in land was annexed de facto to Israel, to serve for a huge new housing project called "Matityahu East", in addition to the settlement called Matityahu (and also Modi'in Illit and Kiryat Sefer) that is already standing.

In a second decision this week, the Supreme Court, for the sake of a spurious "balance", decided that the housing project that is already standing in Matityahu, also on Bil'in land, can remain there and may now be populated, in spite of the fact that the same court has in the past forbidden this.

And who built Matityahu?

Some weeks ago, a huge scandal was exposed. The culprit is a building company called Heftsiba. It collapsed, taking with it the apartments that its clients had already paid for. Many of them have lost their entire savings.

The owner of the company fled and was tracked down in Italy. The company's debts come close to a billion dollars. The police suspects that the fugitive has stolen immense sums.

And lo and behold: this is the same company that built the original Matityahu neighborhood, and that intended to build the new Matityahu project on land stolen by means of the "Security Fence". It also built the monstrous Har Homa housing project and other neighborhoods in the occupied territories.

Who can now deny what we have been saying for years, that the settlements are a huge business of billions upon billions of dollars, which is entirely based on stolen property?

Everybody knows the hard core of settlers, nationalist-messianic fanatics, who are ready to drive out, kill and rob, because their God told them so. But around this core has gathered a large group of gangsters, real estate operators, who conduct their dirty and hugely profitable business behind the screen of patriotism. In this case, patriotism is indeed the refuge of scoundrels.

Talia Sasson, a lawyer appointed at the time by the government to investigate the setting up of "illegal" settlement outposts, has concluded that most of the ministries and army commands have violated the law and secretly cooperated with the settlers. It may appear that they acted out of patriotic sentiments. I have my doubts. I dare to guess that there must be hundreds of politicians, officials and officers who have received large bribes from businessmen who made billions from these "patriotic" transactions.

P.S.:

The man who invented the wall was Haim Ramon, then a leader of the Labor Party. Ramon started out as one of the "doves' of the party (when that was popular). Later he jumped ship to the Kadima Party (when that was profitable).

This week Ramon proposed cutting off the electricity that Israel supplies to the Gaza Strip, as punishment for the Qassam rockets fired at Sderot. It must be remembered that from the beginning of the occupation, Israeli governments have prevented the setting up of independent water and electricity works there, so as to make sure that the Strip would be completely dependent on Israel in matters of life and death.

Now Ramon proposes cutting off this lifeline, to plunge Gaza into darkness, to stop electricity for hospitals and refrigerators, as a collective punishment - which constitutes a war crime. His government has accepted the proposal in principle.

If Bil'in represents the struggle of the Sons of Light, Ramon surely represents - quite literally - the Sons of Darkness.

• 
  

(Report on and photos of the victory demonstration that took place in Bil'in this Friday can be viewed on Gush Shalom's website).

Barghouti: così sarà la nuova intifada

Michelangelo Cocco Roma, il manifesto, 12/09/07. I diritti di un popolo, la sua lotta e la paura dell'isolamento. Resistenza popolare e nonviolenta: dopo la vittoria di Bilin, porteremo la protesta anti-Muro in altri 70 villaggi. Non vivremo nei bantustan, se Israele continua così si va verso lo stato unico. Si vince solo con la solidarietà: l'Italia stracci il trattato di cooperazione militare con Tel Aviv. Mustafa Barghouti è il leader palestinese che più di ogni altro s'identifica con la società civile. Il fondatore di Mubadara, che ha ottenuto circa il 20% dei voti alle ultime elezioni presidenziali, ha trascorso un paio di giorni in Italia, dove ha incontrato i principali leader del centrosinistra e preso parte al Comitato centrale della Fiom. La sua visita di ieri alla redazione del manifesto è stata l'occasione per fare il punto sulla resistenza nonviolenta in Palestina, dopo che l'Alta corte israeliana ha dato ragione agli abitanti di Bilin, il villaggio della Cisgiordania dove un'inedita coalizione di contadini, attivisti di Stop the wall, anarchici israeliani e militanti internazionali ha riportato un'importante vittoria: il muro, lungo un tratto di 1.7 chilometri, dovrà essere riportato all'indietro, fuori dalle terre palestinesi che aveva invaso.

Perché considerate tanto importante la vittoria degli abitanti di Bilin?
La Corte suprema israeliana ha deciso che il Muro deve essere spostato da Bilin, ma anche che parte di una colonia ebraica può rimanere in quel villaggio. Quindi si è trattato di una vittoria parziale, ma è stata la prima volta che abbiamo costretto Israele a spostare il muro. Avevamo bisogno di una vittoria morale, per dimostrare che una lotta pacifica e nonviolenta è in grado di fare la differenza. Tre anni di manifestazioni, ogni settimana, tutti i venerdì: ora tutti credono che la vera lotta riparta da qui, perché il nostro obiettivo non è spostare il muro ma abbatterlo, in accordo col parere della Corte internazionale di giustizia del 2004. A garantire il nostro successo è stata la combinazione di nonviolenza, solidarietà internazionale e attivismo di alcuni pacifisti israeliani. E stiamo replicando il modello Bilin: ci sono già sette villaggi che, da due mesi, hanno iniziato lo stesso tipo di protesta. Puntiamo ad arrivare a 70 manifestazioni e al coinvolgimento di altrettanti centri.
Gaza però sembra intrappolata in una spirale repressione-resistenza armata-repressione.
Sì, ma anche la gente di Gaza ammira ciò che stiamo facendo. La differenza tra Bilin e altre iniziative è che altri dicono «la resistenza armata non va bene», ma non forniscono alternative. L'Anp dichiara che la sua lotta è il negoziato, che però non è una battaglia, può essere solo il risultato di una lotta. Noi stiamo dimostrando che esiste una forma diversa di lotta che è tuttavia certamente una resistenza. Tutti hanno visto che le forze d'occupazione ci hanno picchiati più volte, io stesso sono stato ferito in due occasioni da proiettili di gomma. La resistenza nonviolenta è la forma di lotta più efficace, non meno eroica, meno rivoluzionaria di altre.
La gente di Hamas ha partecipato alla resistenza di Bilin?
Alcuni, non in gran numero. Ma in altri villaggi, come ad Aboud, ce ne sono di più. Hamas si sta evolvendo. Quando ero membro del Governo d'unità nazionale mi chiamarono a tenere una lezione a Gaza sulla resistenza nonviolenta e l'importanza della Comunità internazionale.
La prima intifada vide come protagonista la società civile, la seconda la resistenza armata. Cosa vede in futuro?
La nostra democrazia è in pericolo: Hamas minaccia la libertà d'espressione e d'associazione a Gaza, Fatah chiude le ong in Cisgiordania e restringere le libertà civili. Daremo un ruolo ancora più forte alla società civile. Militarizzare la seconda intifada è stato un grave errore e per questo Bilin è così importante, perché mostra il potere della nonviolenza. Dieci, venti, 70 Bilin, così nascerà la nuova intifada.
Fatah ripete come un mantra: «due popoli, due stati», mentre ormai lo stato palestinese sembra impraticabile. Hamas non esplicita una strategia.
In realtà sulla strategia tra i due gruppi c'è una sola differenza, cioè che gli islamisti non vogliono dire che riconoscono Israele fino a quando lo Stato ebraico non accetterà di stabilire i confini dello Stato. La Comunità internazionale ci aveva detto: se accettate i due stati, il problema sarà risolto. Così nel 1988 tutto il movimento palestinese adottò questa linea. Sul terreno però gli israeliani stanno distruggendo questa possibilità. Io credo che o Israele è disposto a darci uno Stato che comprenda esattamente tutti i Territori occupati nel 1967 - compresa Gerusalemme est - o, se continuerà a distruggere l'opzione dei due stati, ne resterà una sola: quella di uno stato unico, democratico, con eguali diritti per tutti i suoi cittadini. Se la Comunità internazionale lascerà mano libera a Israele, noi non accetteremo i bantustan. Trasformeremo la nostra lotta in una lotta contro l'apartheid.
Cosa pensa dell'atteggiamento del governo italiano nei confronti del conflitto israelo-palestinese?
Apprezzo molto le dichiarazioni di Prodi e D'Alema sulla necessità di non isolare Hamas. Il problema è che quando abbiamo varato il Governo di unità nazionale, l'Italia ha avuto le mani legate, perché è rimasta ostaggio dell'Ue, che a sua volta non può avere una politica indipendente poiché gli Stati Uniti e Israele ne controllano le decisioni.
L'Italia è il quarto partner commerciale d'Israele. Ci inviterebbe al boicottaggio?
Il boicottaggio è molto efficace da un punto di vista psicologico, più che economico, perché fa sentire isolato il paese colpito. Ma se non si vuole boicottare Israele, un paese come l'Italia, che rispetta i diritti umani e il diritto internazionale, almeno non dovrebbe avere alcuna cooperazione militare con lo Stato ebraico. Perché l'Italia fa compravendita di armi con Israele, che viola il diritto internazionale, pratica l'apartheid e uccide quattro bambini palestinesi a settimana [Barghouti si riferisce ai bambini uccisi - 6 non 4 - nella settimana fine-agosto primi di settembre di quest'anno. Secondo Defence for Children International. Palestinian Section dal 28 settembre 2000 al 30 agosto 2007 i bambini uccisi sono stati 892] ? Almeno smettete di lavorare con questa macchina da guerra e sanzionate l'establishment militare israeliano.
Dove porteranno gli incontri tra Olmert e Abu Mazen che escludono dalle decisioni gran parte dello spettro politico palestinese?
Ripetono gli stessi errori di Oslo: un accordo temporaneo che, nel 1999, avrebbe dovuto portare a una soluzione definitiva. Siamo nel 2007, ciò che doveva essere temporaneo è diventato permanente. Israele continua un'annessione territoriale de facto con la costruzione del Muro, l'annessione di terra, l'espansione degli insediamenti. Non è stato rimosso nemmeno un posto di blocco, al contrario sono stati ingranditi. Hanno rilasciato 250 prigionieri e al loro posto hanno messo dietro le sbarre 400 persone.

Bilin: Soldiers show no restraint towards Peaceful Demonstrators

ISM. 28/07/07. Approximately 300 international, Palestinian and Israeli non-violent demonstrators came together for the 129th Bilin demonstration against the illegal Apartheid wall. The demonstrators came from all backgrounds and included children as young as five through to women, men and elderly internationals, Israelis and Palestinians.

The demonstration took a different route than usual and entered the olive groves from the far left hand side through a small road close to the wall. Upon entering the Olive groves, the soldiers almost immediately began firing tear gas canisters and sound grenades at the demonstrators who were peacefully walking towards the Apartheid wall. Despite demonstrators being hundreds of meters away from the Wall and not posing any threat to the soldiers or the Wall itself the soldiers used severe aggression without just cause. Demonstrators made significant attempts to avoid the tear gas however due to the direction of the wind, many of the demonstrators were severely affected by the gas, including one international male who required attention by the Palestinian Red Crescent.

Despite initial attempts by the soldiers to disperse the demonstrators, the non-violent activists persevered in getting their message across that the Apartheid wall must fall and that the people of Bilin and the internationals say No to the Occupation. The peaceful demonstrators faced rubber bullets being fired seemingly without reason and in a completely indiscriminate manner, as well as tear gas canisters directly at demonstrators. It was only through great fortune that there were no reports of serious injury as a consequence.

Due to the heat of the day and the excessive use of tear gas, fires were started within the Olive groves. Unfortunately due to the direction of the wind, a large fire took hold in a section of the groves and approximately ten Olive trees were severely burned and damaged. Demonstrators were keen to preserve the trees however the fire was too strong for them to overcome and they had to retreat.

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Palestine-Israel, Bil'in: 128th Friday demo against the fence + occupation

Infoshop News. 20/07/07. It was a bigger demonstration than usual, as more than 50 internationals participated. At noon, Palestinians, Internationals, and Israelis of the Anarchists Against The Wall initiative marched towards the route of the separation fence. When we were few hundred meters from it, we took a field road that runs in parallel to the fence. Before the people in the head of the march approached the foot of the hill the gate to the other side is located, the Israeli state forces started to shower us with canister of tear gas. Most of the people refused to disperse and tried again and again to come a bit nearer to the route of the fence. The state forces shoot again and again tear gas canisters directly to demonstrators. At one stage, they added to it shooting of metal bullets covered with rubber. As the people refused to disperse in spite of the tear gas, a unit of soldiers advanced till they arrived at the building of the village. Barrage of stones made them think better and they retreated. Two Israelis and one Palestinian were treated for injuries - one taken to hospital for bullet which hit his head.

http://www.infoshop.org/inews/article.php?story=20070720115652335