The 6th Annual Bil'in Conference
21/04/2011
Source : AIC
by Tania Kepler
The 6th Annual Bil’in Conference on the Palestinian Popular Struggle opened Wednesday, 20 April, in the West Bank village of Bil’in.
The day was a full one, with speeches by Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, Jaber Wishah of the Palestinian Center for Human Rights announced the launch of a humanitarian monitoring boat off the coast of Gaza, memorial speeches commemorating the life of recently murdered activist Vittorio Arrigoni, as well as words from Cindy Corrie, the mother of the slain activist Rachel Corrie.
The four day conference, going from 20-23 April, aims to strengthen ties between Palestinian, Israeli and international activists working against Israeli apartheid, and to gain support for Palestinian popular resistance in villages like Bil’in, and across the West Bank.
More than 20 diplomats from around the world attended the opening, including Christian Berger, Representative of the European Commission and the Consul Generals of Britain, Spain, Italy, Belgium, Romania, Poland and Austria. The United States, France, Sweden, Germany, the Czeck Republic, Hungary and Ireland have also sent lower level diplomatic representation, reported Joseph Dana for +972.
The day included workshops, networking opportunities for international activists, and also featured talks on the growing BDS movement.
During the conference visitors have the opportunity to stay overnight with residents of Bil’in, and visit different neighborhoods and villages currently involved in the popular struggle, in order to gain a more concrete idea of the daily realities for residents.
Speaking to members of the Bil’in community and popular resistance activists, Cindy Corrie said: “Your work is counter to the violence that is occurring in different places. You bring the power, the dignity and the honor of non-violent resistence and I believe that ultimately we are going to see that this is the most effective way to counter what is happening here.”
The village of Bil’in, to the west of Ramallah in the central West Bank, has actively used non-violent popular resistance to oppose the construction of Israel’s separation barrier across their agricultural land.
Over the years, Israel’s confiscation of land from Bil’in was used for the purpose of building illegal settlements. In 1980’s, the settlement Mitat Oz was built on land belonging to the people of Bil’in. In 1990 Israel confiscated more land from Bil’in in order to build another settlement called Kiryat Sefer. Most recently, in 2002, Israel built a new settlement called Mitet Yaaho on more land stolen from Bil’in villagers.
In April 2004 the Israeli government announced its intention to build the Separation Wall on even more land from the village of Bil’in. Quickly, the villagers formed the Popular Committee against the Wall and its Settlements (PCAWS).
Palestininan, Israeli and international activists now gather every Friday for a demonstration against the wall. Participants in the conference will also have the opportunity to join this week’s demonstration.
Speaking about Italian activist Vittorio Arrigoni, a member of the International Solidarity Mission (ISM), killed in Gaza on Friday, 15 April, Corrie said, “I’ll just close by saying that as a mother one thing I felt very strongly since hearing about Vittorio, is that no mother should have to feel the pain that I know his mother is experiencing in these days. I remember it all too well… I believe it is time for there to be no more of this kind of killing.”
