Bil'in, a village of Palestine

Six people arrested in Bil’in today during Al-Nakba commemoration

07/05/2010

Today’s demonstrators, consisting of Palestinians, Israelis, and internationals, processed from the Bil’in mosque towards the Wall. Halfway along the route, the procession picked up additional demonstrators in the form of several men dressed entirely in black, carrying a coffin with a man inside. The grim scene symbolized the Palestinians’ loss of land during the nakba and their inability to return to these lands. Most importantly, the coffin symbolized the fact that Palestinian refugees are not allowed to bury their deceased loved ones on their native soil.

Irish activist arrested and injured at anti-CRH protest in West Bank village

30/04/2010

Irish activist and documentarian Tommy Donnelan, 63, was this afternoon wounded and detained for two hours by the Israeli Military in the West Bank.

Irish activist arrested and injured at anti-CRH protest

30/04/2010

Today’s demonstration began with speeches in honor of International Workers’ Day by the Union of Palestine Workers, after which the crowd processed to the Wall. After several minutes, soldiers fired the first rounds of tear gas into the crowd, and continued to launch tear gas deep into the protestors’ route. Soldiers aggressively entered the village in waves in an effort to make arrests.

Fifth Bil'in Conference: Setting the Stage

27/04/2010

[Michigan Peace Team] The Fifth Annual Bil’in Conference, April 21-23, opened with a welcome by Eyad Burnat (Bil’in popular committee) and Luisa Morgantini (recently retired member of the European Union (EU) Parliament). This conference is held in a small village of Bil’in in Palestine, but is organized with input from other Palestinian popular committees, Israelis peace activists and internationals; however, the main effort is from the popular committee of the Bil’in village. This is the village that gives hope to all of Palestine for their creativity in consistent resistance. (MPT has been present at three of the five conferences and seen it develop as a means to unify and inspire Palestinians, Israelis and internationals.)

What if Bil’in held a demo and the army didn’t show up?

26/04/2010

[The Only Democracy?] Some of us have become so used to West Bank demonstrations meaning major Israeli army presence, and, typically, the use of weapons, that we have forgotten what demonstrations in a democracy look like. We’ve forgotten that a protest against oppressive working conditions in downtown New York City, or against oppressive abortion policies in Fredericton, Canada, or against wars in Afghanistan and Iraq in cities including London, Sydney, Paris, San Francisco and Toronto — means police presence only when the protests become so large that they overcrowd public spaces and need direction, when they damage city property, or (get this) when the protesters themselves might be at risk from onlookers with opposing views.

And so we attend demonstration after demonstration — from Bil’in to Al-Ma’asara to Hebron to Nabi Salah, and more — and we are enraged time and time again by the unjustified, disproportionate, immoral response of the army and border police.

But we hardly ever ask ourselves: why are they even here?