The Resistance

Weekly reports on the situation in Bil'in from Iyad Burnat, head of the Popular Commitee and co-founder of Friends of Freedom and Justice.

For more information on Bil'n, see the official FFJ website: www.bilin-ffj.org

Intro by Anne (December 17, 2009)

Who of us cannot be moved by those who would change what is wrong with our world, those who are prepared to stand up for what is right, to undergo many difficulties, to allow themselves to be subjected to violence but to never allow that to defeat them.

It’s hard for me to have come back to London, living the existence I do here, in complete safety and comfort, when I know that at any time my friends in the small village of Bil’in could be killed, shot or arrested just for standing up for their human rights. Bil’in is a small village in the west Bank which has already lost 60% of their own land to make way for the settlements and for the construction of the separation wall.

Bil’in is a symbol for the non-violent, peaceful resistance in Palestine today, they are doing it, they are in the middle of it, they are peaceful and their hearts filled with love. Everyone there to me is an inspiration to the world, they get shot at again and again by the Israeli soldiers at their weekly peaceful demonstrations and they keep getting back up, they are living on the lines between life and death, their life could be taken away from them at any moment.

When I was there, I watched a shockingly horrific video, filmed in April 2009 which showed the Israeli forces killing an innocent Palestinian activist Bassam Ibrahim Abou Rahme with a high-velocity teargas canister that shot him in his heart. At the time of his death, he was standing with his arms in the air pleading in Hebrew to the soldiers for them to stop shooting because they had already injured an Israeli activist and he was trying to get that person to safety but instead he was killed. This is a real threat to everyone who participates in the weekly non-violent protests. But does this stop them? No, they continue forward without fear, with a smile, with an unshakable passion & determination.

For over 5 years the local community along with Israeli and international activists non-violently protest the construction of the separation wall, they are seen as a major threat and the Israeli army are attempting to systematically arrest international peace activists and the members of the Bil’in committee who are in charge of organizing the demonstrations. Just since June, 31 people have been arrested and 16 of those individuals are still in prison. The people who live here are subjected to more frequent night-raids and escalating violence by the Israeli soldiers, just last week during one of these night-raids they arrested Abu Rahmah, another member of the Bil’in committee.

Throughout our history non-violent movements like this have created the greatest positive changes. From the end of slavery to the civil rights movement, the end of apartheid and the tearing down of the Berlin wall, non-violent resistance has played its part.

These are events that have changed the lives of each and every one of us; they have changed the very nature of our societies; our understanding of what it means to be human. Throughout the world, those responsible for these changes have become the greatest heroes of our times. Their achievements are embedded within our common conscience. The people of Bil’in are the hero’s of today, struggling to exist , they are a living witness to the corruption of mankind and they are facing that dark reality on a daily basis, resisting violence through peace.

Show solidarity with them by passing this information forward to as many people as you can, showing solidarity is the first step in creating change.

All photos by Hamdi Abu Rahma

Weekly Reports from Iyad Burnat