February 19th, 2010 - Mass Demonstration in Bil'in: Five years of struggle will end only when the wall falls!
12/02/2010
February 19th, 2010
Mass Demonstration in Bil’in:
Five years of struggle will end only when the wall falls!
Not to the settlements! Not to segregation!
Not to the occupation!
Yes to the joint and popular struggle! Yes to just peace!
Five years of popular demonstrations suppressed by force, nearly two and a half years since the High Court of Justice ordered to change the route of the wall, dozens of nightly army invades into the village, hundreds of arrests, dozens of trials, leaders in jail or prohibited of taking part in the demonstration – and the struggle continues!
On Friday, February 19th 2010, we shall join the weekly demonstration in Bil’in and convey a simple message to the Israeli army: you will not be able to kill the popular resistance! The wall must and will fall!
Please register in advance for transportation:
From Jerusalem – Sahar: 054-5683419
From Haifa – Sebastian: 050-6846056
From Tel Aviv – Ayala: 052-4707885 or Danny: 050-8370450
Those coming to Bil’in for the first time – Please also call Dan (050-7851465) for information and guidance
Background
On February 20th 2005, the bulldozers began uprooting the first olive trees on the planned route of the separation barrier on the village lands of Bil’in. On the same day, the village had its first anti-wall demonstration. Since then Bil’in has been transformed from an anonymous village, known to very few, to an international symbol of popular resistance in the face of gross injustice.
The existing separation barrier in Bil’in effectively annexes to Israel some 1,950 dunums (195 hectares), which represent almost 50% of the village lands – all in the aim of expanding the nearby Israeli settlement of Modi’in Illit. Almost two and a half years ago, following a long legal battle, the High Court of Justice in Jerusalem ruled that the existing route of the barrier in Bil’in is illegal, since it was meant to protect future settler homes which were not built yet. The court ordered the army to come up with an alternative route. However, the court retroactively laundered a part of a settlers’ residential neighborhood, which was established on Bil’in village lands without building permits and in violation of the law. Despite the ruling of the High Court of Justice, released in September 2007, it is only now that the army is expected to begin construction works on the amended rout of the barrier, which will return to the village residents some 600 dunums (60 hectares) of the lands taken from them by the existing route.
The demonstrations in the village have been held since February 2005 once a week, under the leadership of the Popular Committee of Bil’in, where representatives of various parties sit. The demonstrations call for non-violence, Palestinian-Israeli-International cooperation and creative protest, but are harshly suppressed by the Israeli army and border police. In most cases, tear gas and shock grenades are being used against the protesters, but occasionally more dangerous weapons, such as rubber-coated metal bullets, are employed. In the past few months, the army has been trying to strangle the resistance and to stop the Bil’in demonstrations altogether: nearly every week, soldiers invade the village late at night, break into homes, kidnap residents from their beds and spray the yards with tear gas. Dozens of Bil’in residents, including several leaders of the non-violent struggle, were arrested and indicted.
Thanks to its long-standing struggle in the face of suppression, Bil’in has enjoyed international recognition. Leaders, Parliament members, Holocaust survivors, artists, Nobel prize laureates and activists from around the globe joined the demonstrations, declared their support for the struggle and called for an end to the suppression, for the release of the arrestees and for the dismantling of the barrier.
The army’s announcement that the work for the construction of the new route is to begin shortly is a clear achievement of the struggle, but it does not mark its end. The existing barrier will be dismantled only after the new route is complete, which will take a long time. Meanwhile suppression of the residents of Bil’in in general, and of the leaders of the popular struggle in particular, continues. We must all stand with the people of Bil’in and protest against the injustice they endure.
