The Resistance

Today the people of Bil'in were joined by about 100 internationals. People were carrying posters to honor Fayyes Tanin, a Palestinian leader of the grassroot's movement who passed away 6 weeks ago. As the protesters stopped some meters from the gate, facing the soldiers on the other side, the army started shooting tear gas without any warning and without a single stone being thrown. Majd Burnat 12 year old carrying a camera to document military violence passed out from the inhalation, and had to be taken back to the village.

Another young boy was hit by a tear gas canister in his stomach, and suffered from pain. Seven of the internationals joining today were from a French group named CCIPPP, arranged by Mustafa, coming to support the Palestinian struggle. Another five Palestinians came from Tulkarem, where Fayyes Tanin is from. A number of members of the Palestinian Popular Struggle Front were also coming from all over Palestine to support Bil'in this Friday. |

The soldiers were already standing close to the gate as the protestors reached the top of the hill, accompanied by border police, obviously ready to run in and make arrests. After less than a minute, much tear gas was shot into the crowd, both cylinder shaped and the regular round shaped. As people ran towards the village, gas continued to be shot, in addition to a few stun grenades. About ten soldiers lined up on the road, preventing people to come close to the gate, while another ten went in among the olive trees, shooting tear gas from a closer distance.

The cylinder shaped tear gas canisters can cause severe damage when they hit from a short distance. Today a young boy was hit in his stomach, fortunately from such distance that did not cause a serious injury. Another 12 year old boy carrying a camera to document military violence, passed out from too much tear gas, and had to be taken back to the village. No arrests were made today, in spite of much effort from the Israeli army, and the demonstration came to an end after 1,5 hours.

To coincide with the sixth anniversary of the International Court of Justice’s ruling that the Apartheid-Annexation Wall was illegal and must be torn down and reparations paid to the affected Palestinians , Bil’in’s Popular Committee Against the Wall organised a massive protest against the ongoing construction of the Wall and the Israeli “settler” colonies sheltering behind it.

Besides Palestinians the demonstration drew activists and people with live conscience from far afield as Tulkarm, Tel Aviv, Turkey, the US, Egypt, the UK and Ireland and many others of indeterminate nationality who loudly and angrily called for signatories of the Geneva Conventions, Hague Conventions and defenders of international law to implement the advisory opinion of the ICJ and not allow this ruling to wither on the vine of indifference and the double standards of the so called “international community,” particularly Israel’s paymaster and protector, the US.

To reinforce this point, large scales representing justice heavily weighted in Israel’s favour, was carried to the Wall and displayed to the Occupation Forces protecting it, who immediately responded with salvoes of gun fired and hand thrown tear gas resulting in much distress and an injury to a young Tulkarm man and outbreaks of fire in the tinder-dry olive groves to which a fire engine had to be summoned to quench them. To further terrorize the protestors, snatch squads were sent to arrest as many of the fleeing as possible, but met strong and obdurate resistance from the local stone throwing shabab who successfully forced their temporary retreat and their next two sallies.

On Sunday July 4th at 2:30am three IDF jeeps invaded Bil'in village searching for Bil'in resident Jaber Mustafa Abu Rahme. It was unclear why they had come looking for him. They came to the first house with battering rams, knocking again and again, then the commander gave an order to break down the door.

At this point a man who had been asleep opened the door. They asked for his ID and determined that he wasnt the man they were looking for. After checking their maps the soldiers went to another house of an American english teacher who works in the village. They searched her house and then left.

Today the people of Bil'in were joined by internationals and Israelis in the weekly demonstration against the illegal apartheid wall that has stolen more than half of Bil'ins land. About 150 protestors carried out the message to the Palestinian leaders, expressing the need for unification, bringing a large banner showing a picture of Arafat and Yaseen together. The popular committee in Bil'in, represented by Iyad Burnat said there is a need for the Palestinians to unite to resist Israel's illegal occupation. He welcomes internationals, this time a group from the "Palestine Summer Encounter" and others who want to show solidarity with the people of Bil'in and Palestine. Burnat stressed the fact that many people are coming from abroad to show support, and urged the Palestinian leaders to focus on solidarity instead of causing more suffering for their people.

The protesters went together singing, some dancing and saying slogans up to the wall. There the soldiers were waiting on the other side, and the protest went on for about ten minutes before soldiers started shooting tear gas and sound grenades into the crowd, and into the farm land. As people were moving towards the village, tear gas continued to be shot, and dozens of people suffered from inhalation. Soldiers crossed the gate, chasing the protesters towards the village; still they did not manage to arrest anyone. Heat from tear gas canisters and sound grenades set fire to the dry ground several places. The smoke and the gas forced people further back, and in spite of the non violence and retreat the soldiers continued shooting. Ammunition causing fire is a serious problem this time of the year, when the ground is dry. Many olive trees have seen severe damage, with the result of dead trees and less olives to harvest.

The weekly Friday protests in Nabi Saleh against the theft of village land for the construction of the illegal Israeli "settler" colony of Halamish have the reputation as the most violent in the West Bank and yesterday's validated this perception:

Once the peaceful demonstrators reached the line of army jeeps and soldiers blocking their passage, some were manhandled to the ground and coordinator of the protests Bassem Tamimi received rough handling, later Jonathan Shapiro an Israeli with live conscience and strong for Palestine was violently arrested. Subsequently, the village suffered repeated army incursions until late in the evening with attendant IOF violence through copius amounts of indiscriminately fired tear gas and percussion grenades.

Ostensibly, the raids were to arrest some stone throwing shabab - which are never effected - but transparently, their ultimate aim is to terrorize and cow the villagers who, strongly supported by Israeli Anarchists Against the Wall, other Israelis, International Solidarity Movement activists and internationals fiercely resist the Occupation and now the latest ethnic cleansing threat to the existence of the tiny village of some 540 souls; the demolition of 10 homes closest to the colony to pave the way for the expansion of that amoebic obscenity.

In the small hours of last night, at around 3 am, Israeli Occupation Forces raided the village of Bil'in to effect the political arrest of villager; Yasir Maher Yasseen who, happily evaded their clutches yet again.

The IOF have a long history of harassing and jailing this young activist and excepting the kidnapping of 13 year old Fadi Al-Khatib on the 4th of this month and the terrorising of a false confession out of him, this raid comes after a relatively long hiatus (22-05-2010 was the last military incursion into the village) and may be a harbinger for a spate of further terrorising raids to come.? Ashrah Abu Rahmah, brother of Bassem who the IOF murdered on 17-04-2009 at a peaceful protest at the nearby Apartheid-Annexation Wall, distinguished himself yet again with his relentless and brave efforts to breach the IOF cordon around the home of Yasir. Bil'in salutes him.

Today’s protesters in Bil’in brought out the message about boycott of Israeli blood diamonds. Every year, consumers the world over unwittingly spend billions of dollar on diamonds crafted in Israel, and Palestinians call for a boycott. The demonstration went on as usual, Palestinians, Israelis and internationals marched together up to the gate of the wall, facing large amounts of tear gas before the soldiers went in through the gate and chased the protesters some hundred meters towards the village.

Israel, that stands accused of war crimes, crimes against humanity, ethnic cleansing, genocide, the crime of apartheid, extrajudicial executions within and outside the territory it controls and persistent serious breaches of the Geneva Conventions – is the world’s leading exporter of diamonds.

Today the villagers carried t-shirts and posters asking to boycott Israel’s diamond industry. About 100 demonstrators went up to the gate, carrying out the message, in a non violent manner. Another message was solidarity with the Palestinians in Jerusalem, facing eviction from their homes and constant violence from Israeli settlers taking over their houses.

The soldiers responded with shooting tear gas into the crowd after ten minutes. As people were running towards the village, the soldiers were running after, still shooting tear gas, and dozens suffered from inhalation. Three soldiers were reported to hide in the field close to the village, shooting tear gas making it difficult to reach back towards the village.

About ten protesters suffered heavily from the gas, struggling to breathe. Tear gas canisters caused a fire in the field, on both side of the road as the hot canisters hit the dry ground. In the middle of a cloud of tear gas Palestinians were working hard to stop the fire, which was spreading quickly among the olive trees. In the end they managed to put an end to the fire, which caused a lot of smoke in addition to the tear gas. The demonstration lasted for about 45 minutes, when people went back to the village.

Three citizens were wounded today , and three in solidarity were arrested, and dozens of cases of suffocation as a result of inhalation of tear gas by the clashes in the village of Bil'in , along with peace activists and foreign solidarity after the suppression of the Israeli occupying forces for the weekly march against the wall and settlement.

The village of Bil'in , along with peace activists, Israelis and foreigners in solidarity, participated in the march called by the Popular Committee Against the Wall in Bil'in . The participants in the march raised the Palestinian flags and banners condemning the policy of occupation, settlement, and another condemning the attack on the houses of Jerusalem , and calls to halt its campaign of arrest and release of all prisoners and lift the siege on the Gaza Strip. The demonstrators marched in the village, chanting slogans of national unity and calling for the setting aside differences and confirmed the need to uphold the Palestinian constants and the resistance to the occupation and the release of all prisoners, and chanted slogans condemning the aggression and siege on the Gaza Strip.

The protest headed the march towards the wall, where the military force of the Israeli occupation army is to them and behind the concrete blocks behind the wall, after a closed gate in the barrier with barbed wire, and when the demonstrators tried to cross towards the land behind the wall owned by the people of the town, the army fired sound bombs and bullets coated metal bullets and tear gas at them and chase the protesters and even the outskirts of the village. Resulted in injury to three people who are the boy Mohammed Maher Yassin (14 years) bomb gas face, and his brother Jasser Maher Yassin (21 year) bomb gas leg, and Yassin Mohammad Yassin (21 years), and capture of Tal Shapira (25 in), Jal Lukasi ( 22 years) and a British girl was not known her name, and dozens of cases of suffocation, and burning of vast agricultural areas belonging to a large number of people of the village of Bil'in as a result of fire tear gas against demonstrators, and flooded a large village with a barrage of tear gas.

The Committee deplored the popular resistance to the wall and settlements in Bil'in, the formation of an Israeli commission of inquiry into crime Fleet Liberty ignoring the international claim in the formation of an international commission of this crime, and calls upon the People's Committee of the international community to exert pressure on their governments to form an international commission of a crime Fleet Liberty. On the other hand , the administration of Ofer Central Prison continued to deprive Abdullah Abu Rahma, coordinator of the Popular Committee Against the Wall and settlements to visit his family because of his meeting with Al-Jazeera during the court hearing on 05.05.2010, knowing that Abdullah Abu Rahma was detained in Ofer Central Prison from the date of 10.12.2009, and from that date until now his family and his sons weren’t allowed to visit him in prison.

Throughtout the West Bank and further afield, this tiny village of some 540 souls is now a symbol of awe and respect as it spearheads the nonviolent resistance to the Occupation and incredibly, all brutal attempts to break this butterfly of courage, this Palestinian Stalingrad on the wheel have been in vain. The latest threat to the village is the recent serving of demolition orders on ten houses adjacent to the illegal "settler" colony of Halamish by the Occupation regime so as to facilitate its cancerous, amoebic spread and eventually do what savage repression can't; break the resistance through ethnic cleansing.

About 200 participants from 42 member states of the Kimberley Process Forum arrived at Tel Aviv’s Hotel Dan Panorama this morning, for the opening of the Kimberley Process Conference, hosted by Israel which holds the forum’s rotating chair position this year. In 2003, the World Diamond Council introduced a system of self-regulation called the Kimberly Process Certification Scheme to stem the flow of "conflict" or "blood diamonds." In keeping with the limited concerns of the WDC the UN-mandated Kimberly Process adopted a very narrow definition of what constitutes a conflict or blood diamond: "rough diamonds used by rebel movements or their allies to finance conflict aimed at undermining legitimate governments."

As a result of this tight ring-fencing, the much more lucrative trade in cut and polished diamonds avoids the human rights strictures applying to rough diamonds, provided the industry uses only Kimberly Process-compliant rough diamonds. Regardless of the human rights violations and atrocities funded by revenue from the Israeli diamond industry, governments and other vested interests party to the Kimberly Process facilitate the unrestricted access of diamonds crafted in Israel to the multi-billion dollar global diamond market.

The Kimberly Process Certification Scheme strictures only apply to rough diamonds, thus allowing diamonds crafted in Israel to freely enter the market regardless of the criminal actions of the Israeli government and armed forces. The Kimberly Process is seriously flawed and is being used by the diamond industry and jewelers to pull the wool over consumers' eyes by telling them that all diamonds are now "conflict free" without explaining the limitations and exactly what that means. The high-value end of the diamond industry is the main artery of the Israeli economy, accounting for more than 30 percent of Israel's total manufacturing exports worth nearly $20 billion in 2008. By comparison, the budget for Israel's Ministry of Defense was $16 billion in 2008.

Revenue from the diamond industry helps fund Israel's illegal occupation of the Palestinian territories, its brutal subjugation of the Palestinian people and its international network of saboteurs, spies and assassins. None of this is alluded to in the WDC's "Diamond Facts." http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11170.shtml

Tomorrow’s protest is to bring attention to the exemption of Israel in the Kimberley Process and to shame the World Diamond Council into broadening its paradigms and include this area of bloody conflict.

At today's protest, there was fiery resistance from the village women when Israeli Occupation Forces arrested a young man on the Orwellian accusation that he didn't prevent the shabab from throwing stones at them from his property, the arrest was fiercely resisted with palpable anger and outrage and even when the soldiers had him cocooned in a jeep prior to being carted off to detention and worse, the vehicle was physically prevented from leaving until brutality, percussion grenades and tear gas forced a way. However, there is a happy outcome to this story as the IOF released him shortly afterwards to the arms of his joyous wife and villagers.

Throughtout the West Bank and further afield, this tiny village of some 540 souls is now a symbol of awe and respect as it spearheads the nonviolent resistance to the Occupation and incredibly, all brutal attempts to break this butterfly of courage, this Palestinian Stalingrad on the wheel have been in vain. The latest threat to the village is the recent serving of demolition orders on ten houses adjacent to the illegal "settler" colony of Halamish by the Occupation regime so as to facilitate its cancerous, amoebic spread and eventually do what savage repression can't; break the resistance through ethnic cleansing.